§ Miss Joan Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to the reply of 23 November, Official Report, c. 438, to the hon. Member for Eton and Slough, if he will set out the principal reasons for benefit disallowances for the 19 women and 17 men during the pilot trial of the initial availability for work test.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe independent adjudicating authorities are not required by law to give reasons for their decisions. However, it is possible to give the reasons why the benefit office staff decided to refer these cases to the independent adjudicating authorities. Those involving restricted availability were dealt with in the light of specialist advice from jobcentres.
WOMEN (19 cases): Eight stated they were not prepared to accept work at all. Eleven wanted part-time work, but in the opinion of the jobcentre they had no reasonable prospects of employment in view of the hours and type of work required and their previous experience.MEN (17 cases): Eleven stated they were not prepared to accept any type of work. Six were restricting either the hours or place of employment to such an extent that in the opinion of the jobcentre they had no reasonable prospects of a job.