Jobcentres (Hansard, 4 March 1994)

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth

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 M.E. G. Fogden to Dr. David Clark, dated 4 March 1994: The Secretary of State for Employment has asked me to reply to your question about our policy on advertising for people to work in areas of military conflict. The Employment Service (ES) aims not to handle vacancies where jobseekers would be put at risk, or where our reputation would be damaged thereby reducing our capacity to help unemployed people find jobs. Vacancies for mercenaries or those where the work actively supported a hostile military campaign would not meet these criteria and would not therefore be accepted. All vacancies for work abroad have to be cleared with the Overseas Placing Unit within my Head Office before they can be advertised in Jobcentres. To try to protect our jobseeker clients, careful checks are made about the employer and the work offered. It is our practice not to accept a vacancy if it is known that the job requires a person to work in an area where there is armed conflict. If, however, a job was to work in a country where there was conflict but in a part where our clients would not be at risk, we would then consider servicing the vacancy. Where there is doubt about a particular area then advice is sought from the Foreign and Commonwealth office In recent months we have been involved in helping to recruit people in a variety of trades to work in the former Yugoslavia. The jobs were specifically to work on UN contracts to support 906W their peacekeeping mission, and were located away from the areas of armed conflict. Advice was taken from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as described. I hope this is helpful.