§ Mr. Parkasked the Paymaster General (1) what has been the number of people interviewed by his officials in Coventry as part of the project to see which people are available for work;
(2) what is the number of people over the age of 50 years who have been interviewed by his officials in Coventry as part of the availability for work scheme;
(3) what is the number of (a) male and (b) female disabled people who have been interviewed by his officials in Coventry as part of the availability for work scheme;
(4) how many people living in Coventry have been refused benefit after being interviewed by his officials under his availability for work test.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeAs I announced on 28 October, we are introducing improved procedures to establish the long-standing requirement that benefit should only be paid to unemployed claimants who are available for work in accordance with long-standing legal rules. These better procedures were introduced in the Coventry unemployment benefit offices on 10 November 1986.
At 26 December 1986, the latest date for which information is available, 3,957 new claimants in Coventry had completed the availability questionnaire. Of these, six 567W people have had their claims disallowed by the independent adjudicating authorities because they are not available for work and a further 53 cases are still under consideration. Our records do not separately distinguish sex, age, whether a claimant is disabled or whether it has been necessary to interview a claimant.