HC Deb 13 February 2001 vol 363 cc93-4W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what studies he has commissioned into the future demand for supported employment involving the first or rehabilitated employment of persons disabled and out of work and of the unit cost of widening access to employment for those in these categories. [149754]

Ms Hodge

My Department has not commissioned recent studies into the likely future demand for supported employment, though such studies have been commissioned in the past. I announced radical improvements to the Supported Employment Programme on 8 December 2000 which will result in the programme being opened up, for the first time, to people who were formerly claiming incapacity benefits or were long-term unemployed. The programme will be known as Workstep from April 2001.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what studies he has commissioned into incentives to move into open employment from supported employment and the likely impact on those providers of supported employment who fail to qualify for those incentives. [149756]

Ms Hodge

My Department has not commissioned studies into incentives to move into open employment from supported employment, although my Department and the Employment Service receive regular feedback from providers and clients on this issue. We will continue to provide the training and support people need to progress from supported to mainstream employment. This is an important part of the modernised Supported Employment Programme (Workstep) which I announced on 8 December 2000. We expect that rates of progression from the programme will vary between providers and we will monitor the effects of incentives during the early years to see if there is a need to make any changes.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what studies he has commissioned into the nature of open employment taken by those leaving supported employment and into the skill grades and remuneration involved compared with those available under their previous supported employment. [149757]

Ms Hodge

My Department has not commissioned studies into the nature of open employment undertaken by people leaving supported employment because the numbers making such a move have been very small. One of my aims in modernising the Supported Employment Programme is to introduce improvements which will increase the numbers of people who move from the programme and into mainstream employment. The modernised programme, which will be known as Workstep from April 2001, will be subject to evaluation to provide information about what happens to people who leave it.