§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department or its predecessor last reviewed its policy towards paying travelling expenses to potential employees coming for interview. [14856]
§ Mr. Nicholas Brown[holding answer 14 November 2001]: Neither DWP, nor its predecessors, have ever paid travelling expenses to candidates applying for employment with the Department. There has been no evident need to review this position and there are no plans to do so. However, as an organisation, we do several things to help unemployed people with the costs of 108W attending interviews which, subject to the normal eligibility criteria, could be useful for someone attending an interview with this Department. These include the Travel to Interview Scheme which aims to assist jobseekers in their search for work outside the normal area by refunding associated costs. Also the recently introduced adviser discretion fund allows new deal personal advisers the flexibility to make discretionary monetary awards to help people quickly into jobs.