HC Deb 29 October 1992 vol 212 cc832-4W
Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, for each region and for Great Britain as a whole, how many people have attended a Restart interview since 1 April 1991; and what were the results of those interviews broken down between those who(a) started work, (b) began training under employment training, (c) started a job club, (d) started a Restart course and (e) attended an enterprise allowance awareness day.

Mr. McLoughlin

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from A. G. Johnson to Ms. Clare Short, dated 29 October 1992:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, it is the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the Agency's Chief Executive to answer Parliamentary Questions about relevant operational matters. In his absence, I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Employment about how many people have attended a Restart Interview since 1 April 1991; and what were the results of those interviews.

The information you asked for is given in the attached annex. As you will appreciate, these figures reflect only the direct results of Restart. We do not know how many people subsequently take up a job or a place on an employment or training programme as a result of the guidance given to them at their interview. It is through these indirect results of the help which advisers give clients in reviewing their options for returning to work that Restart has its effect.

An indication of the scale of that effect is provided by the report "The Restart Effect" which was recently published by the independent Policy Studies Institute. It is based on an analysis of the largest survey of unemployed people in the UK

Outcomes of Restart Interviews April to December 1991
Region Interviews Job placings ET1 Jobclub Restart course EAS
Northern 97,159 591 4,780 4,429 10,195 226
Yorkshire and Humberside 128,485 794 5,750 4,507 11,266 395
East Midlands and Eastern 122,162 1,777 4,270 5,579 6,641 459
London and South East 354,648 5,195 10,863 18,898 13,818 1,675
South West 81,877 827 3,282 4,198 4,330 542
Office for Wales 72,705 1,091 4,047 3,909 4,735 320
West Midlands 135,376 1,130 6,027 6,095 10,230 485
North West 222,734 1,767 6,411 10,553 20,181 653
Office for Scotland 155,130 1,943 7,236 8,036 15,656 4X3
Great Britain 1,370,276 15,115 52,666 66,204 97,052 5,238
1 The figure for the total number of people starting Employment Training relates to ES generated starts only
Outcomes of Restart interviews April 1991 to August 1992
Region Interviews Job placings ET Jobclub Restart courses EAS
Northern 193,082 1,136 8,970 8,867 15,623 344
Yorkshire and Humberside 251,321 1,879 11,678 9,116 18,015 834
East Midlands and Eastern 263,285 3,814 8,799 12,593 12,026 958
London and South East 827,892 12,970 23,066 43,963 29,342 3,587
South West 181,090 1,801 7,498 9,013 8,156 1,064
Office for Wales 146,335 2,494 7,401 7,676 8,513 591
West Midlands 287,667 2,789 11,767 12,737 18,463 966
North West 460,506 4,153 13,017 21,018 31,943 1,320
Office for Scotland 310,200 4,481 13,192 15,056 23,423 907
Great Britain 2,921,378 35,517 105,388 140,039 165,504 10,571

Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment for each region and for Great Britain as a whole how many unemployed people have been referred to Restart courses by employment service counsellors since January 1991; how many of them were unemployed for over two years; how many attended and completed the course; what were the outcomes of the participants; how many had benefit penalties imposed for not attending or failing to complete their attendance at the Restart course; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from A. G. Johnson to Ms. Clare Short, dated 29 October 1992:

As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, it is the responsibility of Mike Fogden, the Agency's Chief Executive to answer Parliamentary Questions about relevant operational matters. In his absence, I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Employment about Restart Courses.

As you will know from previous correspondence with Mike Fogden, Restart Courses are short courses aimed at helping people who are having the most difficulty returning to work. They are not an alternative to regular job search or since 1980. This showed conclusively that the programme had a major effect in reducing the time it takes people to leave unemployment, to get a job and to enter Employment Training, particularly for those people who were at a disadvantage within the labour market.

As decided by the Adminstration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.

other employment or training programmes. Essentially they provide people with the opportunity to explore all the options open to them and give them confidence to take the next step back to work.

Since December 1990 people who have been unemployed for 2 years or more who at their Restart interview refuse or fail to take up a place on an Employment Department employment or training programme are asked to attend a Restart Course.

As your question has raised a number of specific points, I am setting out the information you have asked for in the two tables attached—one deals with all Restart Course attenders, the other just those covered by the requirement to attend. As explained in the previous answer, we collect at a Regional level the number of people who are referred to the course who are also unemployed for 2 years or more. We have however not felt it necessary to keep similar figures for all those referred. The Benefits Agency make the decision on whether an individual's benefit should be reduced for failure to attend or complete the course. Their figures are compiled by their Districts which have different boundaries from those of our Regions. To avoid confusion, I have given the national figure only.

As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.