§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many restart interviews have so far been conducted; what numbers were referred to each menu option; what numbers actually took up their referral; what numbers were referred to the unemployment benefit service for non-attendance at an interview; what numbers were referred to the unemployment benefit service for non-availability; what numbers were referred to the unemployment benefit service for the refusal of suitable employment; and if he will express the numbers also as a percentage.
§ 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. Frank Field, dated 17 February 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about how many Restart interviews have so far been conducted; what numbers were referred to each menu option and how many took up their referral; how many were sanctioned for non-attendance at interview, non-availability and refusal of suitable employment; and if the numbers can also be expressed as a percentage.Unfortunately the information you request is not available in the level of detail you require. The reason for this is that following a review of data collected by the Employment Service (ES) we decided that the amounts of information collected about the Restart programme could be reduced, lessening the burden throughout the organisation and producing savings in administration costs. Consequently we do not now collect information on the numbers of referrals made to each menu option. Also, information about the number of Restart clients who actually took up their referral is not available separately for each menu option, but is shown "as total starts on Employment Department (ED) programmes".The information we have available for the current year is shown in the attached table.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.Sign-offs, as a direct result of Client Adviser action, include: entering full-time education, starting training (not an ED programme), Youth Training, as a result of benefit disallowed, for pension purposes (no need to sign for NI credits), or those covered by home responsibilities protection (no need to sign for NI credits).They do not include sign-offs for: found work cases, for fraud intervention, failed to sign, clients transferring their claim to another office, or any other reasons not listed above.Starts on Employment Department programmes include Jobclub, Restart Course, Jobplan Workshop, Job Review 964W Workshop, Training for Work, Learning for Work, Community Action, Work Trials, Business Start-Up Scheme and Job Interview Guarantee.Similarly, we do not now collect information about the numbers of people invited to Restart interviews who were subsequently referred to adjudication authorities because of a doubt raised at their interview about their entitlement to benefit. Consequently I am unable to provide the number you requested in the final part of your question or to indicate the percentage of claims this represents. However, information about the total number of adjudication officers' decisions irrespective of source of referral is collected on a regional basis and is summarised quarterly. A copy of each summary entitled "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions" is placed in the Library of the House.I hope this is helpful.
1993–94 Operational Year: (to end of December 1993 rounded to 100s) Number of Restart Interviews 2,400,000 Outcomes Outcomes as percentage of Interviews Started work 27,800 1.1 Took up other benefit 45,000 1.9 Signed off as a direct result of Client Adviser action 55,700 2.3 Starts on Employment Department Programmes 526,500 21.9