§ Mr. HansonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will review the policy of refusing travel claims for income support recipients who have applied for positions of less than one year in duration.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe rules of the travel-to-interview scheme have been reviewed recently and the Employment Service is at present testing changes to the456W scheme in its north-west region. One of the changes is a more flexible approach to the rule that the prospective job must be expected to last for more than a year. However, this relaxation does not include seasonal jobs, or very short-term temporary jobs.
If the test shows that the changes are effective and can be paid for within the resources available, we would hope to introduce the revised scheme nationally in the autumn.