HC Deb 21 July 1997 vol 298 cc395-7W
Mr. Rooney

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many claimants were postal claimants and what percentage this was of the whole in each standard region in each quarter since April 1995. [7764]

Mr. Alan Howarth

[holding answer 10 July 1997]: Responsibility for the subject of the question 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 Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 21 July 1997: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about postal claimants. This is something that falls within the responsibility delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency. The figures that you have requested are only available up to the second quarter of 1996. This information is provided in table 1. Subsequently, a one off account was made on 24 February 1997 and these results are shown below in table 2. I hope this is helpful.

Table 2
Postal claimants in each Region 24 February 1997 Percentage of total claimants signing by post
London and South-east 6,393 1.2
South-west 2,320 1.9
West Midlands 1,045 0.7
East Midlands and Eastern 958 0.6
Yorkshire and the Humber 3,654 2.2
North-west 255 0.1
Northern 1,556 1.3
Office for Wales 2,883 3.2
Office for Scotland 11,853 6.8

Source:

Office for National Statistics and Jobseeker's allowance operational support.