Jobcentre Plus (Hansard, 21 October 2002)

§ Andy Burnham
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of customer reaction to Jobcentre Plus. [73081]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
The first 56 integrated Jobcentre Plus offices are now open and we will extend that network to cover the whole of Great Britain over the next four years.
Research carried out as part of the early evaluation of the new Pathfinder offices indicates that first reactions from both individual customers and employers have been overwhelmingly positive. We plan to publish these results shortly.
Jobcentre Plus will also be undertaking a National Customer Satisfaction Survey at the end of this year and will be publishing the findings in the spring of 2003.

§ Siobhain McDonagh
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will encourage Jobcentre Plus to work in partnership with local voluntary sector organisations. [73082]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
Working in partnership is fundamental to the success of Jobcentre Plus. We recognise that working in partnership at national, regional and local level offers opportunities to harness the diverse skills and experiences that many other organisations have to offer. Not only will this help to provide a comprehensive service both to jobseekers and employers but it also helps our many partners to meet their own objectives.
In particular, we support, and will continue to encourage, closer working with local service providers and voluntary organisations through Local Strategic Partnerships and in a wide variety of other bodies.

§ Mr. Plaskitt
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the range of personal advice available to users of Jobcentre Plus. [73083]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
With the introduction of Jobcentre Plus we are delivering a single, integrated service to all benefit claimants of working age.
Jobcentre Plus provides a full range of advice on employment and training opportunities combined with comprehensive benefit advice. This advice is tailored to the individual needs of the people using the service and will help them to move from welfare to work whilst ensuring they have the support they need whilst doing so.
56 Jobcentre Plus pathfinder offices are already providing the fully integrated and work-focused service which we will extend progressively to cover the whole of Great Britain over the next four years. As part of this upgrade to the service, everyone of working age who is making a new or repeat claim for benefit in these offices will participate in a work-focused interview with a Personal Adviser and be offered their continuing support.

§ Mr. Kidney
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assistance is provided by Jobcentre Plus in cases of large scale redundancies. [73084]
113W

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
In April we launched the Rapid Response Service. The Rapid Response Service works in co-operation with representatives of employees, employers and the local community to co-ordinate a response to redundancies that helps everyone affected and is tailored to their needs.
The Rapid Response Service offers a range of information, advice, training and other help so that those people made redundant can move quickly back into work. Since its launch the Rapid Response Service has provided support to 158 companies and made its services available to over 50,000 people.

§ Richard Burden
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress is being made to extend Jobcentre Plus across the UK. [73092]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
We are progressively extending the new integrated Jobcentre Plus office network across Great Britain over the next four years. By April 2003 we aim to introduce Jobcentre Plus services in over 200 more sites across 25 of our 90 Districts. A list of those Districts is available in the Library.