New Deal (Hansard, 18 December 2003)

§ Mr. George Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how long participants of the New Deal programme are tracked following completion of the programmes; and what independent assessment of the effectiveness of the timescale for tracking participants has been undertaken. [144596]

§ Mr. Browne
The tracking period for recording information on the destinations of leavers from New Deal programmes is 13 weeks. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of this tracking period has not been conducted, although research on the New Deal programme has been conducted by independent organisations, including that undertaken by the Policy Studies Institute and British Market Research Bureau (ESR67, March 2001), which is available in the Library.
On the 16 December 2003, we announced the launch of the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study which will link benefit and programme information held by this Department with employment records from the Inland Revenue. This work will improve our understanding of what happens in the longer term to people who leave our programmes, including the New Deal. We are also conducting a study to provide further information on New Deal unknown destinations and expect to publish the report on this survey next year.

§ Mr. George Osborne
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average cost per place was in the last 12 months of participants on(a) the New Deal for Young People, (b) the New Deal for Lone Parents and (c) the New Deal for Disabled People.[144597]

§ Mr. Browne
The New Deals are designed to ensure that individuals get the help they need by offering a tailored package of provision. There is, therefore, no such thing as an average participant, thus data is not collected on the average cost per place.
However, as part of our evaluation of the New Deal programmes, average cost per additional job figures are available for New Deal for Young People participants; in 2000, we estimated that the average cost of a young person moving into work through the New Deal for Young People was around £4,000 per additional job.
1099W
In addition, cost benefit analysis published in June 2003 found that running the New Deal for Lone Parents in 2000–01 resulted in a net exchequer saving of £1,600 for each Lone Parent moving into work.
Equivalent estimates of cost per job are not available for the other New Deal programmes.

§ Mr. Jim Cunningham
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the merits of reducing the time a person must be unemployed before being given New Deal 50 plus support. [145107]

§ Miss McIntosh
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make the help and advice offered by New Deal 50 plus available immediately rather than after a period of six months unemployment. [145126]

§ Mr. Browne
Currently around 75 per cent. of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance aged 50 and over leave the benefit within the first six months. Therefore, New Deal 50 plus eligibility is set at six months to target help on those people who are in need of extra support to move into work.

§ Sandra Gidley
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have(a) applied for and (b) received the £1,500 in-work training grant offered by the New Deal 50 Plus. [143938]

§ Mr. Browne
Between April 2000 and March 2003 5,520 people applied for and received the in-work training grant offered by the New Deal 50 plus. Jobcentre plus Personal Advisers discuss and agree training plans with eligible clients before the training is undertaken, therefore all those making an application will receive a grant.

§ Mr. Gibb
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 8 December 2003,Official Report, column 325W, on New Deal for Young People. how many New Deal for Young People leavers moved into employment in each month between January 1998 and January 2003; and what his assessment is of the trend in the percentage of New Deal leavers moving into employment during that period. [144008]

§ Mr. Browne
The information has been placed in the Library.
New Deal for Young People has been successful in helping more than 460,000 young people into work. It has helped reduce youth unemployment to around its lowest level since the mid 1970s, and, together with our other welfare to work policies, has been instrumental in virtually eradicating long-term youth unemployment.
The percentage of people leaving New Deal for Young People for sustained employment may be distorted by the trend in leavers to unknown destinations, which has been steadily increasing since 1998. However, research undertaken on the destination of people leaving New Deal suggests that leavers to unknown destinations are just as likely to move into jobs as people leaving to known destinations i.e. 57 per cent.
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On 16 December, we announced the launch of the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study which will link benefit and programme information held by this Department with employment records from the Inland Revenue. This work will improve our understanding of what happens in the longer term to people who leave our programmes, including the New Deal. We are also conducting a study to provide further information on New Deal unknown destinations and expect to publish the report on this survey next year.