§ Mr. Andrew MacKayTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he plans to make any further changes to the restart programme; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security and I have been considering whether the current position whereby a claimant's failure to attend a restart interview results in a disallowance for unemployment benefits should be extended to restart courses.
Such courses are already a very successful extension of the interview process designed to help those hardest hit by unemployment to regain confidence, identify potential and plan a route back to work. We believe that the very long term unemployed, whose length of time without a job clearly shows that they have been unable or unwilling to take full advantage of the wide range of available opportunities, clearly have much to gain from such a course.
My right hon. Friend therefore intends to introduce regulations later this year which will enable employment service staff to require the attendance at a restart course of those who have been unemployed for two years or more and who, at subsequent restart interviews, refused to participate in any of my Department's employment and training programmes.