§ Mr. Hilary BennTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the additional number of staff required in the Employment Service if unemployed claimants had to register every day; and what would be the cost in a full year of employing such staff. [95656]
§ Ms JowellResponsibility 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.
810WLetter from Richard Foster to Mr. Hilary Benn, dated 25 October 1999:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked Leigh Lewis to reply to your question concerning the additional staff numbers and costs that would be required should daily registration be required from unemployed claimants. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mr. Lewis as Chief Executive of the Agency. I am replying in his absence.Using the current live headline unemployment level of 1.2m along with staffing assumptions for current registration activities, the total additional staff numbers required to manage the daily registration would be approximately 25,000 at a cost of £400m in a full year.I hope this is helpful.