§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will provide a breakdown of the number of people who have left the unemployment count since May 1997 as a result of transferring to benefits which do not qualify the claimant for inclusion on the unemployment count in the categories of(a) all leavers from the count, (b) those aged over 25 and unemployed for over two years and (c) those aged 18 to 24 and unemployed for over six months; [109272]
(2) how many 18 to 24 year olds who had been unemployed for over six months left the unemployment count for work destinations during (a) March 1998, (b) the period between April 1993 and May 1997 and (c) the period between April 1998 and the latest date for which figures are available. [109281]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. David Maclean, dated 21 February 2000:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary questions about the numbers of 18 to 24 year olds unemployed for over six months leaving the claimant count to find work, and the numbers leaving the count since May 1997 to transfer to benefits other than Jobseeker's Allowance.The number of 18 to 24 year old claimants who were unemployed for over 6 months who left the count and were known to have found work as the reason for ceasing their claim was 6,895 between 12 March and 9 April 1998 and 147,305 between 9 April 1998 and 13 January 2000.Information for the period April 1993 to May 1997 is not available as the data on leavers by destination have only been compiled since the beginning of 1995.I regret that the data you have requested on the destinations of leavers from the claimant for the period since May 1997 are temporarily unavailable owing to a technical problem. I will write to you again as soon as possible. In the meantime it may be helpful to know that information on destinations of leavers from the claimant count, back to the beginning of 1998, can be obtained from the House of Commons Library, via the Nomis system.