§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what will be the minimum population size eligible for a bid for funding under the new deal for disabled people. [43098]
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§ Mr. Alan HowarthThere is no minimum population size required for a bid for funding under the new deal for disabled people programme.
The personal adviser service of the programme will be piloted in 12 areas linked to Benefits Agency districts. In those six areas which are open to competitive tender, the client groups range in size from 11,380 to 22,780.
Innovative schemes are being developed within this new deal programme to learn more about the most effective approaches for helping disabled people into work. In order to draw valid conclusions about them, we will need about 100 participants in each scheme, although we will consider bids for projects with a minimum of 50 participants.