§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if his Department will accept an average of the annual amount of guided learning hours calculated over the number of weeks in which there are any such hours as a weekly figure when deciding whether students on courses funded by the Further Education Funding Council for Wales are part-time for the purposes of the jobseeker's allowance. [24812]
§ Mr. ForthThe jobseeker's allowance regulations provide that a person who undertakes a course funded or part-funded by the Further Education Funding Council for Wales will be considered to be a part-time student if a document signed on behalf of the establishment which is funded by the FEFC for Wales for the delivery of the course says that the course involves 16 guided learning hours or less a week.
393WIn the case of courses funded by the Secretary of State for Scotland at a college of further education, a student will be considered to be part-time if a document signed on behalf of the college says that the course involves 16 hours or less a week of classroom or workshop-based programmed learning under the direct guidance of teaching staff; or 21 hours or less a week, made up of 16 hours or less of classroom or workshop-based programme learning under the direct guidance of teaching staff and additional hours using structured learning packages with the support of teaching staff.
In both cases, the Employment Service will accept these documents as evidence of whether or not a person is a part-time student. In the case of courses funded by the FEFC for Wales, the number of hours per week will be calculated on the basis of a weekly average of the number of guided learning hours for the course. In the case of courses funded by the Secretary of State for Scotland at a college of further education, the number of hours of study per week will be calculated in the same way.
§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if part-time students in receipt of the jobseeker's allowance will be deemed to have restricted their availability for work where they have paid a fee for the course. [24813]
§ Mr. ForthPeople who receive jobseeker's allowance and study part time must remain available for work. Independent adjudication officers will determine whether or not a person is available for work, taking into account all the relevant circumstances of the case: payment of a fee for a course will not automatically mean that a person will be considered to have restricted his or her availability for work.
For certain jobseekers, the Jobseekers' Allowance Regulations 1996 have the effect that payment of a fee should not be taken into account. For people who have, broadly, been unemployed for three months in the last six no matter relating to their course will be taken into account when determining whether they are available for work providing they are willing and able to rearrange the hours of their course to take a job within the hours they have agreed they are available for work in their jobseeker's agreement.