§ Mr. GarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of existing postal claimants who will no 623W longer be eligible to sign by post when the jobseeker's allowance is introduced (a) in total and (b) by parliamentary constituency. [22549]
§ Mr. ForthThe rules allowing certain jobseekers to make their declarations by post will change with the introduction of jobseeker's allowance. The facility will be available to people whose normal journey to or from the jobcentre would take more than one hour, or would involve an absence from home of over four hours. People whose mobility is restricted by disability will also be considered for the postal facility. We estimate that the total number of postal signers will be reduced by up to 50 per cent. from the present level of about 120,000. It is not possible to break this estimate down by parliamentary constituency.