§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if there are any plans to reduce the number of jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices in towns and rural areas.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to close jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices; how many he expects to close in each of the next five years; what criteria he uses to decide on closure; and what will be the staffing consequences.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July]:The network of offices is kept under continuous review. Any proposal to close an office or change the level of service provided in an individual office is put to the Minister responsible for the employment service for approval. In these cases, the Member of Parliament and local interests are given the opportunity to comment.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of staff employed in jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices in each of the standard economic regions.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July]: The information is available only on the basis of employment services regions, which are not the same as standard economic regions. Details of the actual numbers of permanent staff employed in local offices at 1 July 1988 in each ES region are given in the table.
259W
Region Full time Part-time Northern 1,811 330 Yorkshire and Humberside 2,741 389 East Midlands and Eastern 2,555 391 London and South East 7,052 850 South-West 1,880 250 Wales 1,551 283 West Midlands 2,660 314 North West 4,278 564 Scotland 3,490 441 Note: These figures include some specialist staff not engaged in local office work.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give the total number of jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices in(a) June 1979 and (b) now, for each standard economic regon of the United Kingdom; and if he will give the total number of job-centres and unemployment benefit offices opened in each standard economic region in each of the years 1979 to June 1988, inclusive.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July]: The information required is not available by standard economic region. However, the numbers of jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices by employment service region on 1 April 1988 are as follows:
Region Jobcentres Unemployment benefit offices Northern 60 66 Yorkshire and Humberside 84 99 East Midlands and Eastern 100 105 London and South-East 255 253 South-West 103 116 Office for Wales 99 120 West Midlands 78 90 North-West 133 156 Office for Scotland 121 153 1,033 1,158 The information for 1979 is not available.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans for the closure of jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July 1988]: The network of offices is kept under continuous review. Any proposal to close an office or change the level of service provided in an individual office is put to the Minister responsible for the Employment Service for approval. Where a closure or reduced level of service is proposed the Member of Parliament and local interests are given the opportunity to comment.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether consideration of the future of jobcentres and unemployment benefit offices will involve consultation with local right hon. and hon. Members.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July 1988]: It is normal practice in the case of a proposal to close a particular jobcentre or unemployment benefit office or to alter the level of service provided there to give local right hon. and hon. Members the opportunity to comment.
260W
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give details of those jobcentres in the Greater Manchester area which are presently being considered for closure; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July 1988]: The network of offices is kept under continuous review; any proposals to close an office or change the level of service provided in an individual office are put to the Minister responsible for the employment service for approval. In these cases the Member of Parliament and local interests are given the opportunity to comment. I have no proposals to put to the hon. Member at present.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to seek additional funds to keep existing jobcentres open.
§ Mr. Lee[holding answer 25 July 1988]: My right hon. Friend will continue to ensure that all the activities which this Department needs to carry out are adequately funded.