§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures are in place to assess the effectiveness of the ONE service in assisting people with a mental illness. [114674]
§ Ms JowellThe new ONE service provides a coherent and seamless service for people of working age, by providing a single point of access for help in finding the best way to work, and help in securing benefits. All advisers in the ONE pilots have been trained to work sensitively with all ONE clients, and have benefited from the expertise of stakeholders, e.g. with experience of working with people with mental illness, who participated in the training process.
We will assess fully the effectiveness of the ONE service for all clients. As part of the ONE evaluation, we will be carrying out in-depth interviews with ONE staff and clients to examine the effectiveness of the ONE service in identifying and meeting the needs of individual clients, including people with a long-standing illness or disability. Where particular individual needs, such as those for people with a mental illness, are identified and have a significant impact for the ONE service this would be picked up in these interviews
§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2000,Official Report, columns 791–92W, if he will make it his policy to collect statistics on the numbers of people with a mental illness attending ONE meetings and the numbers who subsequently gain employment. [114673]
§ Ms JowellThe ONE service is built upon the principle of treating people as individuals, with their own unique needs, abilities and circumstances, and not categorising them as members of particular groups. ONE advisers encourage everyone to use their skills and talents to the full.
Further to my reply of 9 March, we are not yet in a position to provide information on the numbers of people with mental illness who are using the ONE service. The ONE evaluation database will capture information on ONE claimants receiving sickness and disability benefits and whose main disabling condition is 'mental and behavioural disorders'. This will enable us, in due course, to provide information on those in this group passing through ONE. However, this will only given an indication of the numbers of people using the ONE service who have a mental or behavioural disorder and have claimed a sickness or disability benefit as a consequence. It will not be possible to identify clients who have not claimed a sickness or disability benefit in respect of such disorders.