§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the national staffing requirements for Jobcentre Plus, and the average wage per employee will be; what the combined national staffing requirements were for the Benefits Agency and Employment Service, and the average wage per employee; and what will happen to employees that are surplus to the Jobcentre Plus staffing requirements. [24222]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownCurrently some 112,000 employees work in the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service. The average salary per employee is approximately £15,080.
We will begin rolling out Jobcentre Plus nationally from 2002. Local staffing requirements for Jobcentre Plus will be determined as part of this process. The chief executives of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service wrote to all staff on 23 April 2001. They reassured staff that a key aim in developing plans for Jobcentre Plus and the Pension Service would be to enable all current staff to have a job in the new organisations or one of the other agencies in the Department.
§ David CairnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what is the value of the extra investment in help to the unemployed represented by the new Jobcentre Plus pilot offices in Inverclyde. [25418]
1140W
§ Mr. Nicholas Brown£122 million has been invested in the current financial year to establish the Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices. Because much of this investment, for example on IT and communications, has been spent on the Pathfinder offices collectively it is not possible to identify the total investment separately in respect of the offices in Inverclyde. However, a total of around £3.6 million has been spent on improving the physical environment of the Greenock and Port Glasgow Pathfinder offices.