§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average time taken from receipt of application to a final decision for firms applying for temporary short-time working compensation; and how this compares with March 1978, 1979 and 1980.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe temporary short-time working compensation scheme did not open for applications until 1 April 1979.
The average time taken to process an application is not kept in statistical form. The time taken at the moment is about three weeks. When applications reached their peak last autumn processing was taking about eight weeks on average.
Region Staff in post 1.4.79* Staff in post 1.10.79 Per cent. change over 1.4.79 Staff in post 1.4.80 Per cent. change over 1.4.79 Staff in post 1.10.80 Per cent. change over 1.4.79 Staff in post 1.1.81 Per cent. change over 1.4.79 Northern 8 5 -37 7 -13 7 -13 13 +63 Yorkshire and Humberside 20 10 -50 15 -25 20 NC 35 +75 South East 9 2 -78 5 -44 10 +11 26 +189 London 5 2 -60 4 -20 6 +20 9 +80 South West 4 1 -75 2 -50 7 +75 11 +175 Wales 9 4 -56 7 -22 10 +11 14 +56 Midlands 13 6 -54 10 -23 42 +223 57 +338 North West 26 2 -92 13 -50 40 +54 57 +119 Scotland 10 4 -60 7 -30 11 +10 15 +50 Total 104 36 -65 70 -33 153 +47 237 +128 * As explained in the answer, these figures cover both TSTWCS and TES.
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the increase in applications for the temporary short-time working compensation scheme numerically and in percentage terms since March 1979.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe temporary short-time working compensation scheme did not open for applications until 1 April 1979. The following table gives at six-month intervals the pattern of applications received, the numerical increases and corresponding percentage increases up to the date of the latest figures available.
56W
§ Mr. McMahonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will ensure that collective agreements between trade unions and employers will preserve entitlement to full redundancy pay in case of short-time working, and that collective agreements state that existing employment contracts remain in force, even if shorter hours are to be worked on a temporary basis in an attempt to avoid redundancies.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe substance of collective agreements is a matter for the negotiators. However, a statutory redundancy payment is calculated by reference to the rate of pay which is payable by the employer under the contract in force on the calculation date. This rate is not prejudiced merely because an employee is temporarily on short-time.
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff, region by region, are employed in dealing with temporary short-time working compensation scheme applications; and what increase there has been in numerical and percentage terms since March 1979.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe temporary short-time working compensation scheme did not open for applications until 1 April 1979. Its predecessor, temporary employment subsidy, closed for applications on 31 March 1979 and most of the staff on that scheme took on the work of the new scheme whilst retaining the work entailed in winding up the old one. The earliest date for which separate staff in post figures are available for the present scheme is 1 October 1979.
The following table shows the staff changes at six-monthly intervals since the scheme opened, together with the latest month for which figures are available.
Date No. of applications received Numerical increase over April 1979 Percentage increase over April 1979 April 1979 73 — — October 1979 124 +51 +70% April 1980 502 +429 +588% October 1980 2,350 +2,277 +3,119% February 1981 998 +925 +1,267%
§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many applications for temporary short-time working compensation are awaiting decision, region by region.
57W
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe number of applications awaiting decision at 28 February 1981, region by region, is as follows:
Region Number of applications Northern 32 Yorks and Humberside 202 South East 151 London 137 South West 167 Wales 74 Midlands 123 North West 575 Scotland 107