§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Paymaster General how many people have been interviewed under the new availability-for-work procedures; how many have had their claims for benefit stopped, how many appeals have been made; and how many have been successful.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1987, c. 37]: Claimants to unemployment benefit have always been disallowed benefit by independent statutory adjudicating authorities, in accordance with long-standing legal rules adopted by successive Governments, where they are not available for work. There have therefore always been some interviews and some refusals of claims for as long as the national insurance system has operated since its establishment in its present form in 1947. If the hon. Member is asking for information about the position since we last modified the procedures and revised the form which has always been used to enforce the rules, the answer as at 27 February 1987 is as follows:
Number Numbers of claimants who have completed the latest version of the availability questionnaire (UB 671) 1,077,836 Number of claimants who have been disallowed benefit. 8,866 Information is not readily available about the number of appeals made against disallowance of benefit or their outcome.
§ Mr. Jannerasked the Paymaster General how many people have been refused full or partial unemployment
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§ Mr. TrippierThe proportion of the Department of Employment's advertising budget spent on regional and local newspaper advertising is 4.1 per cent.