HC Deb 13 November 1996 vol 285 cc277-9W
Mr. Peter Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assistance is available to a person who lacks funds to travel to work in respect of a job opportunity verified by the local office of her Department. [3628]

Mr. Forth

Responsibility 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. Peter Griffiths, dated 12 November 1996: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the payment of fares to travel to work. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. While there are no schemes set up specifically to provide assistance with travel costs upon finding employment, Jobseekers who have been unemployed for two years or more may be entitled to claim the Jobfinder's Grant. The purpose of the Grant is to encourage people to look for work by overcoming some of the barriers associated with the transition from benefits into employment. Ongoing research has indicated that over 70¦ of Grant recipients cited the need to travel to work as one of the problems they had faced. In addition, we have been running the Travel to Interview Scheme for a number of years to help unemployed people cope with the expense of getting to job interviews. The scheme does this by helping people who have been unemployed more than 13 weeks with travelling costs, and if necessary, overnight accommodation costs to attend job interviews outside their usual travel to work area. A few basic conditions must be met before assistance can be granted, to ensure the scheme is properly and fairly administered and gives good value for money. In the last year the scheme has helped nearly 47,000 applicants with travelling costs totalling £1.7m. We also provide extra help for disabled people. People with disabilities can be given help with travel costs to attend job interviews and, if necessary, the travel costs of someone to accompany them, through our specialist Placing Assessment and Counselling Teams (PACTS). In addition, once a job has been secured, the Access to Work programme can provide help with the additional costs, resulting from disability, of getting to and from work. I hope this is helpful.