HC Deb 18 February 1997 vol 290 cc462-3W
Ms Roseanna Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people after claiming jobseeker's allowance for a period of 13 weeks have taken(a) part-time employment of less than 25 hours, (b) temporary employment of less than (i) six months and (ii) 12 months and (c) employment paying less than £3 per hour in each month since 7 October 1996. [16125]

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 Leigh Lewis to Ms Roseanna Cunningham, dated 18 February 1997: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the number of people who, after claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for a period of 13 weeks, have taken (a) part-time employment of less than 25 hours, (b) temporary employment of less than (i) 6 months and (ii) 12 months and (c) employment paying less than £3 per hour in each month since 7th October 1996. Unfortunately, I cannot provide the information you request as it is not available. The reasons for this are: the Employment Service records employment details where jobseekers have been placed into vacancies advertised through Jobcentres, but no details are available for jobseekers finding employment through alternative means. Therefore I cannot identify total numbers for any of the categories you have requested; when details of vacancies are taken by the Jobcentre, an indicator is set if the vacancy is temporary but the period of temporary work is not specified; vacancies taken by the Jobcentre are classified as part time if the vacancy offers up to 30 hours work per week, but no differentiation is made between part time vacancies on the basis of the number of hours; in general, Jobcentres record the average weekly earnings rather than the hourly rate. Although the information you have requested is not available, you may find it useful to refer to the Labour Market Trends publication produced by the Office for National Statistics, which provides further Labour Market analysis. I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful.

Ms Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many people have been subject to benefit disqualification as a result of(a) breaking the labour market conditions, (b) failing to complete the jobseeker's allowance agreement, (c) refusing to attend mandatory training courses and (d) failing to act on the jobseeker's direction in each month since 7 October 1996; [16126]

(2) how many people have been subject to benefit disqualification for refusing to accept a job offer notified by the Employment Service in each month since October 1996. [16127]

Mr. Forth

Responsibility for the subject of the questions 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 Leigh Lewis to Ms Roseanna Cunningham, dated 18 February 1997: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about how many people in each month since October 1996 have been subjected to benefit disqualification as a result of breaking the labour market conditions, failing to complete the jobseeker's allowance agreement, refusing to attend mandatory training courses, failing to act on the jobseeker's direction, and refusing to accept a job offer notified by the Employment Service. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. Unfortunately information is not available in the form you have requested. The information is not available on a monthly basis but statistics are compiled quarterly. Information about decisions on questions arising on claims for unemployment benefit is contained in a document entitled "Analysis of Adjudication Officer's Decisions", which is published quarterly, and includes information on all the main entitlement questions arising on claims. The publication for the quarter ending 31 December 1996 will also include decisions given on questions arising on claims for Jobseeker's Allowance. All the main questions will be shown separately, including those relating to the areas referred to above. I expect to publish this analysis by the end of March 1997 and copies will be placed in the Library. I hope this is helpful.