HC Deb 23 March 1988 vol 130 cc162-3W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the offices where the new restart questionnaire has been piloted from 1 February.

Mr. Lee

The restart interview form was launched in the following locations on 1 February 1988:

  • Billingham
  • Dundee
  • Ealing
  • Huddersfield
  • Leicester
  • Plymouth
  • Port Talbot
  • Preston
  • Stoke
  • Watford
  • Wimbledon

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide details for each of the offices where the new restart questionnaire has been piloted of the number of people found to be unavailable for work for the period before the introduction of the new questionnaire and for the period following its introduction.

Mr. Lee

The number of people referred in the months of January and February 1988 fom the 11 launch offices to an unemployment benefit office because of a doubt about their availability for work is shown in the table.

The two sets of figures are not directly comparable in that those for the period following the launch of the restart interview form on 1 February include a number of referrals which would previously have been sent to claimant advisers.

It is not possible to provide figures for the number of those referred to unemployment benefit offices who are subsequently disallowed benefit since the number of such decisions which follows a restart interview cannot be separately identified within the total number of decisions which follow from referrals to adjudication officers from unemployment benefit offices.

Numbers referred to unemployment benefit offices because of doubts over availability
Office January 1988 (5 week period) February 1988 (4 week period)
Billingham 0 30
Dundee 1 54
Ealing 46 57
Huddersfield 21 37
Leicester 62 228
Plymouth 12 50
Port Talbot 2 34
Preston 20 72
Stoke 18 146
Watford 6 37
Wimbledon 19 96

1 April
1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 11987 21988
Agricultural 190 178 176 166 159 154 162 163 166.0 158
Factory (General) 742 759 735 678 654 627 652 623 621.5 598
Factory (Specialist) 209 221 215 208 198 198 193 201 210.0 204
Explosives 15 14 13 13 15 15 15 19 17.0 14
Industrial air pollution 46 48 46 46 42 40 41 40 Nil Nil
Mines and quarries 116 113 113 111 105 102 96 84 87.5 76
Nuclear 106 102 106 101 103 106 107 101 102.5 120
Total Health and Safety Executive inspectors 1,424 1,435 1,404 1,323 1,276 1,242 1,266 1,231 1,204.5 1,170
1 On 1 April 1987, 37 industrial air pollution inspectors were transferred from the Health and Safety Executive to the Department of the Environment.
2 March 1988 figure.