§ Mr. SoleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what statistics the Employment Service is required to keep on decisions relating to persons suspended from benefit for not actively seeking work. [31254]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Mike Fogden to Mr. Clive Soley, dated 4 June 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about what statistics the Employment Service Agency is required to keep on decisions relating to persons suspended from benefit for not actively seeking work.The actively seeking employment condition was introduced in the 1989 Social Security Act. Information on the number of decisions and disallowances issued to Unemployment Benefit claimants, including those in respect of the definition of actively seeking work, is contained in the quarterly summary entitled "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions", copies of which are held in the Library of the House. This information is available from 1 October 1989, when the actively seeking work condition was introduced, to the quarter ending March 1996.Decisions to disallow Income Support claims because of failure to satisfy the actively seeking work condition are given by Adjudication Officers in the Benefits Agency of the Department of Social Security. Therefore, we do not hold information about the number of these disallowances.I hope this is helpful.