§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assumptions about the duration of disqualification for unemployment benefit were made in estimating the cost of reducing the maximum to six weeks, for the purpose of replying to the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on 21 January,Official Report, column 180; and on what evidence these assumptions were based.
§ Mr. BurtThe estimate was based upon the actual number of disqualifications in force on 9 May 1991 and an assumption that around two thirds of those disqualified would still be unemployed and disqualified after six weeks. The average length on the unemployment register by claimants disqualified for receiving unemployment benefit has been assumed to be 11 weeks, based upon current unemployment benefit statistics. This is less than the 21-week average period of disqualification—one of the 271W findings of a departmental survey published in 1989 entitled "An Analysis of Voluntary Unemployed Claimants", a copy of which is available in the Library.