§ Mr. EasthamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what positions in rank order of employment service offices has been achieved by the Manchester Cheetham employment service office in respect of the number of people successfully removed from benefit. [29340]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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. Ken Eastham, dated 19 June 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the number of people disallowed benefit at the Cheetham Hill Employment Service Jobcentre, and how this office compares with other offices.Clients may not receive Unemployment Benefit (UB) for a number of reasons. Some people through their own actions disqualify themselves to benefit by leaving their employment 30W without good cause, or because of misconduct, or because they refuse employment. Others are disallowed because they fail to satisfy conditions of entitlement because they are not available for, capable of, or actively seeking work.Decisions to stop UB being paid are made by independent Adjudication Officers appointed by the Secretary of State for Employment. Decisions to disallow other Social Security benefits are made by officers of the Department of Social Security and its various executive agencies.It is the responsibility of my people to refer client claims to the Adjudication authorities when they have doubts about their entitlement, or that they may qualify for benefit payments.In the period 1 April 1995 to 31 May 1995 the total number of decisions to disallow UB made by the Adjudication Officers for offices in the Manchester Employment Service District were 628. Of these, 89 were referred from the Jobcentre at Cheetham Hill and 2 have subsequently been allowed on review.We do not rank order our offices on the basis of the number of people whose benefit is stopped. This is because many variables need to be taken into account when looking at office performance in this area, for example the size of the office. However, I can tell you that of seven offices in Manchester district Cheetham Hill Jobcentre was fourth in the number of disallowances made.I hope this is helpful.