§ 1980 Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the future of the public access job-broking service; how many stand-alone offices providing such a service were in use in(a)(b) 1985, (c) 1990 and (d) 1995; and if she will list the year of closure of each office and its location. [37205]
§ 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. Rhodri Morgan, dated 17 October 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the future of the public access job broking service and the stand alone offices providing such a service.We do not maintain detailed records concerning the numbers of offices although I am able to advise that at the start of the project in 1989/90 to integrate our benefit offices and Jobcentres, the Employment Service (ES) had a total of 1,800 offices. By the end of 1990, 300 integrated offices had been opened. This number has risen to 950 by September this year. The total number of offices is currently 1,124.
It is expected that the public access job broking service will continue to be provided by the ES as at present. The current system is geared to the needs of unemployed people, particularly those at a disadvantage in the labour market. It is also used by people seeking to change work, including those facing redundancy.
The service will be enhanced by a new computer system, the Labour Market System (LMS), which is being piloted in some Jobcentres at present. National implementation of LMS is scheduled to take place during 1996.
LMS will, for the first time, give Jobcentre people access to client, job opportunities, programme and other information via one computer system. This will enable us to provide a more professional service to all our clients, through for example, searching for suitable vacancies or opportunities quickly and easily.