§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what estimate she has made of the redundancy, deadweight and substitution effects of the pilot workstart schemes; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of Workstart beneficiaries who remain in paid employment with the same employer(a) six months and (b) one year after the end of the wage subsidy; [5383]
(2) what research has been undertaken by or on behalf of the Government into the cost effectiveness of the workstart scheme in creating jobs for the long-term unemployed; and if she will summarise the results of that research. [5384]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility for the subject of the questions 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. Michael Meacher, dated 13 December 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about research issues surrounding the Workstart pilots.Evaluation was carried out in 1994 and the report was lodged in the House of Commons Library at the end of last year. The survey covered a wide range of issues including characteristics of participating firms, attitudes towards the scheme, and estimates of deadweight and substitution. The programme has been set up to preclude vacancies which come about through the redundancy or dismissal of an existing employee.Employers were asked about the extent to which Workstart created new vacancies. For the sample as a whole, 17% of all jobs registered under Workstart were generated as a direct result of the subsidy.Information on the proportion of beneficiaries remaining in employment is being collected three months after leaving or completing Workstart. Results from this follow up study will be available in late 1996.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many pilot schemes were run under the workstart scheme following the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November 1994; how many new job opportunities she estimates were created by these pilots; and what was their total cost; [5405]
(2) how many people were placed under the workstart scheme at the start of each month since its inception. [5409]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility 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. Michael Meacher, dated 13 December 1995:
696WThe Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about operational aspects of the Workstart pilots.
Workstart was piloted in four areas between June 1993 and December 1994. The aim of the pilots was to test the effectiveness of encouraging employers to recruit people unemployed for two years or more by paying a subsidy for one year. Under these pilots, employers were paid £60.00 for the first six months, and £30.00 for the remainder of the year.In his November 1994 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced two further pilots designed to test the impact of varying the amount and duration of the subsidy. The pilots started in April 1995 and will finish in March 1996.These figures requested are in the attached table (Annex A).The number of new job opportunities created, and their cost, under the Workstart pilots will not be available until an evaluation of the more recent pilots is completed in November 1996.I hope this is helpful.
Workstart scheme starts: July 1993 to November 1994 Annex A Number of starts Month1 In-month Cumulative December 1993 36 158 January 66 224 February 89 313 March 132 445 April 92 537 May 110 647 June 142 789 July 174 963 August 132 1,095 September 230 1,325 October 96 1,421 November 75 1,496 December 1994 832 1,57922 1A breakdown is not available for the months of July 1993 to November 1993; there were a total of 122 starts in this period. 2Includes 30 starts from previous periods, which Tyneside TEC had overlooked when providing earlier information each month.
Workstart scheme starts: April 1995 to October 1995 Number of starts Month In-month Cumulative April 3 3 May 47 50 June 49 99 July 72 171 August 103 274 September 102 376 October 94 470