HL Deb 05 June 2000 vol 613 cc133-5WA
Earl Russell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will estimate the number of people who have been subject to benefit sanctions on each New Deal programme and in each year since their introduction, breaking these totals down, where possible, by (a) gender, (b) ethnic minority and (c) region. [HL2601]

Baroness Blackstone

Information is not available in the form requested. Young people taking part in the New Deal for 18 to 24 year-olds may be liable to a benefit sanction if they do not attend one of the four options as they are expected to do. Comprehensive information on the number of sanctions that have been imposed for failure to attend New Deal options as expected is collected through the Decision Making and Appeals System (DMAS). This system identifies the number of sanctions imposed for each New Deal option in each region but does not identify the numbers of individuals involved or a. breakdown of their characteristics.

Table 1
Numbers of sanctions imposed on questions relating to New Deal 18–24 options on claims for JSA —April 1998 to 31 December 1999
New Deal 18–24 Option
Region Subsidised employment FT Education or training Environment Task Force Voluntary Service Total
LaSER 167 793 804 728 2,492
East Midlands 136 661 699 311 1,807
South West 111 225 395 341 1,072
West Midlands 153 962 1,065 408 2,588
Yorks & Humber 307 1,074 1,108 668 3,157
North West 410 1,140 1,358 492 3,400
Northern 261 1,337 778 370 2,746
Wales 155 336 732 142 1,365
Scotland 366 1,273 1,156 543 3,338
National 2,066 7,801 8,095 4,003 21,965

The Employment Service publishes information from DMAS each quarter. Published information is currently available to the end of December 1999. It shows the numbers of New Deal option sanctions imposed in each region were as follows:

April 1998 to 31 December 1999
Number
London and South East 2,492
East Midlands 1,807
South West 1,072
West Midlands 2,588
Yorkshire and Humberside 3,157
North West 3,400
Northern 2,744
Wales 1,367
Scotland 3,338
Total 21,965

Earl Russell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will estimate for the New Deal for Young People the number of sanctions imposed in each year since April 1998 for (a) each New Deal option, (b) each unit of delivery and (c) each region, stating in each case the number of young people on the scheme and the number and percentage of young people on New Deal who have been sanctioned. [HL2602]

Baroness Blackstone

Information is not available in the form requested. Comprehensive information on the numbers of sanctions imposed for failure to attend options as expected within New Deal for Young People is collected through the Decision Ma king and Appeals System (DMAS) and is currently available to the end of December 1999. This is shown in Table 1.

This infomation cannot be compared directly with the numbers of young people who had joined New Deal in each region by December 1999 because it relates to number of sanctions imposed not to individuals. There will be cases where sanctions have been imposed more than once on an individual.

Table 2 sets out the numbers of young people who had joined New Deal in each region and in Scotland and Wales by end December 1999. Table 3 shows the number of young people who have joined each of the options during this period.

Table 2
Numbers of young people starting on New Deal—April 1998 to December 1999
Region Total
LaSER 96,860
East Midlands and Eastern 33,250
South West 21,630
West Midlands 38,420
Yorks and Humber 44,720
North West 55,500

Table 3
Number of young people joining New Deal options April 1998 to 31 December 1999
New Deal 18–24 Option
Region Subsidised employment FT Education or training Environment Task Force Voluntary Service Total
LaSER 4,300 14,580 6,280 4,410 28,570
East Midlands 1,970 5,440 2,170 2,030 11,610
South West 1,840 3,120 2,070 1,350 8,510
West Midlands 2,160 6,190 2,130 2,150 12,630
Yorks & Humber 3,060 8,280 3,420 3,530 18,290
North West 4,710 8,910 3,370 4,520 21,510
Northern 2,260 7,450 1,850 2,190 13,750
Wales 2,640 3,550 1,690 2,650 10,530
Scotland 3,900 6,730 3,330 3,620 17,670
National 26,930 64,250 26,310 25,450 143,000