§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in full the results of the analysis of the matched sample of unemployed claimants, some of whom were subjected to interview by unemployment review officers, and on which he has based his estimate of the savings accruing to the work of the officers.
§ Mr. PrenticeWhen making estimates of the saving in benefit resulting from the work of unemployment review officers we have started with the number of cases ceasing to draw benefits, as published in the SBC annual reports, but have modified this figure to allow for the fact that some of these claimants would have gone to work anyway, over a period, even if not contacted by one of these officers. Using the best information available, an estimated figure of 25 per cent. has been deducted from calculated savings to allow for this factor.
It is not possible to provide an analysis of data in the form requested because our estimates have been based on the results of various small scale local studies, in the absence of any recent national figures based on research using matched samples. These studies include only one with matched samples and its results were published in the SBC annual report for 1977 (paragraphs 7.42 to 7.44).