§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the net expenditure effects over the next four years of the New Deal for(a) youth and long-term unemployed, (b) lone parents and (c) people with disabilities. [63504]
§ Angela EagleI have been asked to reply.
The Government published their latest detailed estimates for the allocation of Windfall Tax receipts, which are being used to fund the Welfare to Work programme, in the pre-Budget report last month (Cm 4076—table 4.1).
The Windfall Tax raised £5.2 billion. Half of this, or £2.6 billion, has been allocated to the New Deal for 18 to 24 year olds. It has already given opportunities to 186,000 young people.
£0.5 billion will be spent on the New Deal for long term unemployed people aged over 25 which started in June. From 30 November it has been extended in 28 pilots providing more intensive interventions.
375W£190 million has been allocated to the New Deal for Lone Parents which became available nationally to all lone parents on Income Support on 26 October. It was previously available in eight prototype areas from July 1997 and nationally to lone parents making new claims to Income Support from April 1998. During these two phases 87 per cent. of those attending initial interviews decided to participate in the programme.
A further £210 million has been allocated to the New Deal for Disabled People. This includes £10 million additional funding announced on 28 October.
All aspects of the New Deal programme are being comprehensively analysed. However, it is too early to make estimates of the net expenditure effects of these programmes, and it would be imprudent to make arbitrary reductions in our estimates of programme expenditure. The objective of our Welfare to Work programme is to increase the level of employment in the economy: doing so will benefit individuals in work, the wider economy, and the public finances.