§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many vacancies are currently available at jobcentres in Lancashire offering jobs at(a) £3.10 an hour or less and (b) £3.50 an hour or less.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility 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 M.E.G. Fogden to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 26 October 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 him about the number of vacancies currently available at Jobcentres in Lancashire offering jobs at (a) £3.10 an hour or less and (b) £3.50 an hour or less. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.Unfortunately, I am unable to answer your question without disproportionate costs being incurred. There are 25 Jobcentres in Lancashire and it would be necessary for each to carry out a separate survey, as the information requested is not routinely collected. However, details have been obtained from a sample of four of the larger Jobcentres in the county namely Burnley, Blackpool North, Blackburn and Lancaster. On 22 October these offices held a total of 747 vacancies offering jobs at £3.50 an hour or less, including 511 offering £3.10 an hour or less. For each of the four offices some vacancies from adjacent offices have been included because of arrangements to circulate information within travel to work areas.I hope 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.