HC Deb 09 May 1988 vol 133 cc51-3W
Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many restart interviews have taken place in each of the standard regions in each month between June 1986 and the most recent date for which information is available.

Mr. Lee

The information requested by employment service regions is shown in the table:

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if all restart offices use selective procedures in assessing who should be invited to a follow-up interview; and what are the criteria upon which selection is based.

Mr. Lee

In those offices where follow-up interviews are currently taking place, the decision which groups should be invited to interview is a matter for local management.

However, a systematic basis for follow-up is currently being developed for implementation as part of the package of proposals announced in the White Paper "Training for Employment."

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the recommended length of time that restart counsellors are maintained as interviewers.

Mr. Lee

The length of time counselling staff stay in post is a matter to be decided between the individual and local management.

Mr. McLeish

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average number of interviews conducted by restart counsellors per day and per week in each of the standard economic regions for each month between June 1986 and the most recent date for which information is available.

Mr. Lee

The information is not available in the form requested. However, during 1987–88 an average of 45 interviews a week was carried out for each counselling post allocated to the programme. A detailed breakdown for the employment service regions is as follows:

Weekly average number of restart interviews per counselling post—1987–88
April May June July August September October November December January February March
Northern 29 39 45 49 48 47 51 49 38 38 43 40
Yorkshire and Humberside 26 29 36 44 48 46 53 61 48 44 43 39
East Midlands and Eastern 31 33 54 48 46 44 48 53 36 35 43 39
London and South East 27 30 38 44 45 43 49 54 41 44 48 47
South West 24 30 39 42 46 44 49 55 42 44 48 43
Wales 30 36 48 51 43 43 45 51 39 42 47 47
West Midlands 28 35 46 47 45 40 40 42 36 38 44 39
North West 25 34 43 47 46 41 47 48 36 40 46 44
Scotland 28 44 45 46 47 47 49 54 43 42 52 46
Great Britain
Total 28 34 43 46 46 44 48 52 40 41 46 43