§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many persons have taken part in the restart scheme since its inception; of those how many went on to full time employment; and what has been the total cost of operating the scheme since it began.
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§ 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.
Letter from Mr. M. Fogden to Mr. Gerry Steinberg, dated 30 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 about Restart Courses. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
Since they were introduced in July 1986 to December 1992, 513,736 people attended Restart Courses at a cost of around £49 million.
We do not however collect regular information on the numbers of people who subsequently start jobs. However, a recent national survey showed that 9.4 per cent. of the respondents were either in a job or waiting to start one. Many more had, of course, gone on to join another programme such as Jobclub or training.
Restart Courses are not simply about applying for jobs. Research has shown that many people suffer a loss of confidence and motivation after a long spell of unemployment. The Restart Course, which normally lasts one week, aims to help such people set new and realistic goals for themselves, to feel confident about achieving them and to develop an action plan. This will help them apply for jobs or other employment or training opportunities to help them back to work. Indeed so far this year 90 per cent. of the people who completed courses went on to apply for an employment or other opportunity. Therefore a Restart Course should be seen as a stepping stone, often a very necessary one towards more help.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administrative 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 reply in the Library of the House.