New Deal (Single Gateway) (Hansard, 30 March 1999)

§ Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what changes the Government plans to make to the Single Gateway to Benefit before its implementation. [78919]

§ Mr. Andrew Smith
The Government have announced plans to forge a new culture in the benefits system which puts work first and provides a modern, integrated, flexible service for all. Pilots will begin in June to test the effectiveness of providing a Single Work-Focused Gateway into the benefits system. Intensive work is taking place to put these pilots into operation in four areas from June and a further eight areas from November. We shall evaluate the pilots thoroughly to inform decisions about wider implementation of the Single Gateway approach.

§ Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to extend the use of specialised agencies in the New Deal Gateway process. [78918]

§ Mr. Andrew Smith
In last year's Budget statement my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £50 million investment in the New Deal Gateway, of which £10 million was allocated to enhance specialist provision to help with such problems as homelessness and drug or alcohol dependency. More recently New Deal personal advisers have been reminded of the need to make full use of the help available from partner organisations, including specialist agencies. We are also currently developing more effective ways of assessing at an early stage in the Gateway whether young people are in particular need of specialist help.
I will shortly be inviting New Deal partnerships to submit proposals for innovative approaches to delivering New Deal locally which we might support from our new Innovation Fund. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced additional resources for the Fund in this year's Budget. One of the priority areas for support will be proposals to implement recommendations from the New Deal Task Force report, "Meeting the needs of disadvantaged young people". I hope that some partnerships will come forward with proposals to implement and test out the report's recommendation that specialist agencies could provide effective case-management for young people with particularly severe problems during their time on New Deal.