§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her latest estimate of the numbers of(a) severe disablement allowance, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) income support claimants who would gain if eligibility for the jobfinder's grant were extended to people in receipt of those benefits at the time of their application. [16673]
§ 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.
664WLetter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 20 February 1997:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about possible take-up of the Jobfinder's Grant by claimants in receipt of Severe Disablement Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Income Support. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.I understand from the Department of Social Security that the current number of claimants in each of the three groups are approximately as follows: Severe Disablement Allowance—331,000; Incapacity Benefit 1,541,000 and Income Support—2,059,000. Some people may be claiming more than one of these benefits.We do not know what the take-up of the Jobfinder's Grant amongst these groups would be if it was made available. For jobseekers who have been registered unemployed for two years or more it is about 6%, but we would expect it to be lower for these other groups of claimants, perhaps in the order of 2%, giving a possible take-up of around 80,000.I hope this is helpful.