§ Mr. Bernie GrantTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what are the implications of the inaccuracy of the April figures for vacancies at the Tottenham B jobcentre for estimates of employment trends in(a) the Tottenham Constituency and (b) nationally; [27881]
(2) when accurate figures for vacancies at the Tottenham B jobcentre will be released; [27880]
(3) what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the figures released on 17 April by the Central Statistical Office in respect of job vacancies at the Tottenham B jobcentre on 8 March; where the vacancies are; and what are the implications of the new computer system for the accuracy of the figures. [27879]
§ Mr. ForthResponsibility for the subject of the questions 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 Robert Home to Mr. Bernie Grant, dated 2 May 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence on leave of the Chief Executive, to reply to your questions relating to the figure for Unfilled Vacancies at Tottenham "B" Jobcentre which was published in the Greater London "First Release" on 17 April 1996.During the changeover to the new Labour Market System (the new Employment Service system for client and vacancy records) an incorrect figure was generated for this office. Clearly the published figure of 1,062 is about 1,000 too high. It has not yet been possible to pinpoint the cause of the error but urgent steps are being taken to do this, and to prevent a similar occurrence in the future. I will write to you again with a fuller explanation when we have it.In the meantime I would like to apologise for the confusion which this must have caused.