§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much was spent in 1989–90 and 1990–91 on job clubs; and how much is planned to be spent on job clubs in 1991–92 and 1992–93.
Mr. JacksonI have been advised by officials in the Employment Service that in the year 1989–90 expenditure on job clubs, excluding marketing of the programme, totalled £24.4 million. In 1990–91 expenditure was £25 million.
Current planned expenditure for 1991–92, excluding marketing, is £27.5 million. The level of expenditure for 1992–93 is the subject of the current public expenditure survey negotiations with Her Majesty's Treasury.
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§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to reduce the requirement that people who are eligible to join a job club have to have been out of work for six months or more unless they are disabled or have been on employment training; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonJob clubs are aimed at long-term unemployed people and others at a disadvantage in the labour market and I have no plans to alter existing eligibility requirements. In addition to the categories referred to by the hon. Member, eligibility rules have been relaxed to facilitate access for ex-offenders, who can count time spent in custody as unemployment; ex-regular members of HM forces; and people leaving youth training without a job to go to.
As part of a new package of measures to help unemployed people which I announced on 20 March, the Employment Service will shortly be launching a new programme of short job search seminars. These will be available to people who have been out of work for 13 weeks or more. The seminars will include guidance on where and how to look for work, based on materials used in job clubs.
§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many job clubs there were in 1989–90 and 1990–91; and if he has any estimates for the number of job clubs for 1991–92 and 1992–93.
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Mr. JacksonI have been advised by officials in the Employment Service that the number of job clubs open at the end of the 1989–90 year was 1,010. The number of job clubs open at the end of 1990–91 was 943.
There is no set target for the number of job clubs in 1991–92. We have asked the Employment Service to make 156,000 places available on the programme, an increase of 15,000 over the number helped in 1990–91. It is expected that the Employment Service will open a small number of additional job clubs in order to reach this number of places.
No figure is available for 1992–93. This will be agreed between myself and the chief executive of the Employment Service at a later stage during negotiations on the annual performance agreement for 1992–93.