HC Deb 23 October 1989 vol 158 cc325-6W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment by standard Great Britain region, including Greater London, what is the current average length of time between an unemployed claimant receiving an adjudica-tion officer's decision on grounds of restricted availability and non-availability for work and a subsequent appeal.

Mr. Eggar

The information requested is not collected and could he obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment by standard Great Britain region, including Greater London, what is the current average length of time between a claimant's referral for adjudication and an adjudication officer's decision on grounds of restricted availability and non-availability for work.

Mr. Eggar

Information is not available in the precise form requested. However, the speed with which adjudication officers make decisions (that is, the time between their receiving a referral and reaching a decision) is monitored in a 5 per cent. sample of cases. The sample shows that for the three-month period ending 30 June 1989, the percentage of restricted availability questions decided within four weeks of referral to an adjudication officer, for each employment service region, was as follows:

Availability Restricted availability
per cent. per cent.
Southern 77.5 70.2
Eastern 92.3 91.7
Western 68.0 76.1
Yorkshire and Humberside 91.0 95.1
South West 65.9 77.6
Northern 100.0 96.6
North West 89.4 83.4
East Midlands 86.3 89.0
West Midlands 93.1 93.1
Wales 96.5 98.2
Scotland 84.9 90.5