§ Mr. GarnierTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to make changes to the travel-to-work interview scheme. [16300]
§ Mr. ForthThe Employment Service has completed a comprehensive review of the scheme and tested a number of beneficial rule changes. An evaluation has confirmed that the scheme is a cost-effective means of helping unemployed people.
The main changes, which take effect from 1 April, are:
- the removal of the upper salary limit;
- help with second and subsequent interviews;
- a more realistic interpretation of the condition that the job must be expected to last for 12 months or more;
- help for the majority of self-employed jobs;
- the qualifying period will change from 4 to 13 weeks and people will need to show they are claiming benefit. This supports our aim under the jobseeker's allowance to encourage people still unemployed after this time to widen their job search activities.
I am confident that the changes better target the scheme on those it is meant to help, making it fairer and simpler to administer.
A copy of the evaluation report will be placed in the Library.