Employment Service (Hansard, 10 May 2001)

§ Mrs. Liddell

The aim of the Employment Service is to help people without jobs find work and employers to fill their vacancies. The Employment Service in Scotland makes an important contribution to an efficient and flexible labour market and to delivering the Government's welfare to work policies, working in close partnership with employers and others. These targets pave the way for the new agency, Jobcentre Plus, whose pathfinder offices will begin work in October. They give stronger emphasis than ever before to helping individuals facing particular difficulty in the labour market to move from unemployment and economic inactivity into sustainable employment. The highest priority will be given to helping people who have been economically inactive for long periods, including lone parents, to find work, and to capitalise on the opportunities created by the new generation of New Deals.

I am announcing today the targets we have set for Scotland. They are challenging and stretching. We are looking for improved levels of customer service to jobseekers and employers, together with consolidation of the improved performance against the Jobseeker's Allowance Labour Market Activity target. These targets cover a full year, but we propose to carry out a 375W comprehensive consultation and review later in the year that will inform the setting of targets for the new agency for people of working age, called Jobcentre Plus, for 2002–03.

The targets for the Employment Service in Scotland for 2001–02 are:

Vision and Purpose

The Employment Service in Scotland aims to make a major contribution to an efficient and flexible labour market and to the Government's objectives of an increase in the effective supply of labour, and countering poverty and social exclusion by helping welfare recipients facing the most severe disadvantages to compete effectively for jobs. It does this by working closely with employers and with its private, voluntary and public sector partners to provide a quality service for all people without a job and to promote employment opportunities for all who can work. It aims to attract a diverse range of vacancies and to fill those vacancies quickly by matching the right people and skills with the right jobs. Its chief priority is to help individuals facing particular difficulty in the labour market to move from welfare and economic inactivity into sustainable employment. It does this through correct application of the Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) regime, delivery of the New Deals, and the provision of appropriate information, advice, training and support. The challenge and opportunity for the Employment Service, is to sustain continuous improvement in its services to jobseekers and employers and to make these services more accessible and relevant to customer needs, through effective use of modern technology and close working with a wide range of partners.

Aim

To help people without jobs find work and employers to fill their vacancies.

Objectives and Targets

Objective A To help all people without jobs, and particularly those on welfare and at a disadvantage in the labour market, to find and keep work by providing appropriate information, advice, training and support and by encouraging employers to open more opportunities to them.

Targets Al: To help into work 7.214 people who are either jobless lone parents, participants in the New Deal for Partners, participants in the New Deal for Disabled People or other disabled people claiming 'inactive' benefits. A2: To help into work 46,517 participants in the JSA New Deals, New Deal 50+, Employment Zones, other disabled people not recorded in Al. and others at a particular disadvantage. A3: To help into work 90,202 welfare recipients and other disadvantaged people. A4: To help into work 150,788 jobless people. A5: For 75 per cent. of long-term JSA claimants to be off benefit 13 weeks after starting a job into which they were placed by the Employment Service.

Objective B To ensure that the rights and relevant labour market responsibilities of people on JSA and other benefits are fulfilled, while helping to combat fraud and abuse of the benefit system.

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Target B I: To ensure that the relevant labour market responsibilities of people on JSA are fulfilled in 91 per cent. of cases checked.

Objective C To harness new technology, the pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement to deliver effective, efficient and accessible services to all people without jobs and to employers in Jobcentres and increasingly through other locations and means of communications.

Targets CI: To achieve a 93 per cent. customer service level for jobseekers. C2: To achieve an 83 per cent. customer service level for employers.

Objective D To deliver services to all ES customers in a way which respects individual differences, helps to overcome disadvantages due to ethnicity, gender, age or disability and achieves the best possible outcome for each of them.

Targets D1: From October To achieve a proportion of new ethnic minority claimants who leave JSA for a job within 12 months, which is equal to the percentage of all white claimants leaving JSA for a job within 12 months (to work towards equality of outcomes by 2004.) (Target level to be announced. D2: From October: To screen benefit claimants for basic skills requirement and N here needed refer to appropriate training. (Exact target wording and level to be announced.)

Milestone Target By 30 September 2001, for 95 per cent. of jobseekers claiming JSA to have been asked to identify their ethnicity and for this answer to be recorded.