§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of individuals who have been refused benefit as a result of the decisions of adjudication officers in each of the past six years in Dumbarton constituency.
§ Mr. LeeFigures are not available by constituency of the number of claimants to unemployment benefit—to whom I take the hon. Member to be referring—who are refused unemployment benefit as a result of the decision of an adjudication officer.
However, in the 12 months ended 30 September 1987, the total number of disallowances made by adjudication officers arising on claims to unemployment benefit in the adjudication office area of Govan, which includes the Dumbarton constituency, was 12,902.
Figures relating to the last six years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of claimants 49W in Scotland and in the Fife, Central constituency who have been refused benefit through the decision of an independent adjudication officer, following a restart interview, in each month since the commencement of the restart scheme.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 5 November 1987]: Any refusal of benefit subsequent to a restart interview follows not from the interview itself but from the decision of an independent adjudication officer operating under long-standing legal rules adopted by successive Governments.
The numbers of such decisions which follow a restart interview cannot be separately identified within the total number of decisions which follow from referrals to adjudication officers from unemployment benefit offices.