§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Hamilton) of 14 December 1995,Official Report, column 738, what research her Department has undertaken into how many people will not be able to participate in the access to work scheme as a result of the priority setting; and if she will review the possibility of making available extra funding for the scheme. [19321]
§ 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 Mike Fogden to Mr. Frank Field, dated 11 March 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about research into the number of people participating in the Access to Work programme; and about funding for the programme.
We have not undertaken research into how many people will not be able to particpate in the programme as a result of the priority setting announced by the secretary of state on 14 December; although we know that about 80% of new applicants were employed.
The report of major research on Access to Work overall after its first year of operation will be published imminently.
By the end of January 1996 12,749 people (of whom 8,799 were new applicants) had been helped by Access to Work compared to 10,394 in the whole of 1994/5. Significant extra funds have been provided to make this possible.
I hope this is helpful.