§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for employment what role will be played by adjudication officers in deciding whether a claimant's application to undertake guided learning in further education complies with clause 7(8) of the proposed jobseeker's agreement.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe jobseeker and the employment officer will seek to draw up a jobseeker's agreement. If they are unable to agree, either party can refer the proposed terms and conditions of the jobseeker's agreement to an adjudication officer.
The adjudication officer will determine if the proposed terms and conditions of the agreement—including any part-time study—would allow the jobseeker, if he complied with them, to meet the conditions of jobseeker's allowance. In making his determination, the adjudication officer will expect to have regard to the legislation and any relevant case law. He will also be assisted by any guidance issued by the chief adjudication officer.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how employment officers will evaluate whether or not private study periods undertaken by claimants within their jobseeker's contract in support of part-time guided learning interferes with attempts to seek employment.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe jobseeker will be asked to provide the employment officer with evidence that he is available for, and actively seeking, employment. This will normally happen when the jobseeker attends the jobcentre for an interview. If, in the employment officer's opinion, the evidence is insufficient, he will refer the matter to an independent adjudication officer for a determination.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to encourage employment officers to build in literacy training into the jobseeker's contract in cases where it is evident the claimant of benefit has fared poorly in genuine attempts to secure employment due to illiteracy or poor literacy.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe jobseeker's agreement will record the steps that a jobseeker will take to get back to work. It is not a contract. If the employment officer and the jobseeker identify that a jobseeker's jobsearch would benefit from help with his reading or writing, this can be noted on the agreement and appropriate action taken. Help can be provided, if appropriate, through supportive job clubs, special restart courses and training for work.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for employment, pursuant to his letter of 16 February to all hon. Members, what evaluations were made using what database and what projections, in coming to the conclusion that there would be no reduction in the number of benefit claimants entitled to benefit under the new proposals for people enroling on part-time courses while claiming jobseeker's allowance.
§ Miss WiddecombeCalculations were based largely on the results of a survey carried out by the Further Education Funding Council in 1993–94. This provided separate details of the distribution of student's guided learning hours for students on courses classified as full time and part time. Currently, students pursuing full-time146W courses cannot qualify for social security benefits, while those studying part time may do so, subject to meeting the other benefit conditions.
From these data, it is possible to deduce the number of students on courses classified as full time whose weekly guided learning hours were up to 16, relative to the number formerly classified as part time whose weekly hours were more than 16. The new threshold, based on this information, is designed to allow the same number of people to study while receiving benefit as do so currently.