§ Ms ShortTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment for each region and for Great Britain as a whole, how many unemployed people were referred to Restart courses by employment service counsellors(a) between April 1991 and March 1992 and (b) from April 1992 to the latest available date, showing for each period how many of them were unemployed for over two years, how many attended and completed the course, what were the outcomes of the participants and 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. McLoughlinResponsibility 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.
744WLetter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Clare Short, dated 12 March 1993.
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Question to her about Restart Courses. These are matters which fall within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.As you will know from our previous correspondence, 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 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 1990, people who have been unemployed for 2 years or more who refuse or fail to take up a place on an Employment Department employment or training programme at their Restart interview, 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 four tables attached. Tables 1 and 2 deal with all Restart Course attenders, and tables 3 and 4 refer to those covered by the requirement to attend. As explained in previous replies, 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 not, however, felt it necessary to keep similar figures for all those referred. The Benefits Agency (BA) 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 BA Districts which have different boundaries to our own Regions. To avoid confusion, I have given the national figure only.I hope that this is helpful.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.