§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been penalised with reduced benefit for failing to attend a compulsory work-focused interview in each year for which figures are available, broken down by benefit received in each case. [177529]
1444W
§ Jane KennedyThe information requested is not currently available The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and the DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction MI on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents have been invited to attend a work-focused interview in each year since the start of the programme; how many have attended; how many have not attended; and how many have received a benefits penalty for failure to attend. [177967]
§ Jane KennedyWork-focused interviews for lone parents can be deferred or waived, or the customer may leave benefit between an interview being booked and the time it should be attended and benefit sanctions would not apply in these circumstances. Therefore not all interviews booked will result in a work-focused interview being attended.
The available information is in the table.
Lone parent work-focused interviews— new/repeat and existing customers Calendar year Booked total Attended total 2001 106,130 85,360 2002 241,240 203,810 2003 399,300 355,860 2004 9,310 8,550 Source: Jobcentre Plus Database (to February 2004) NDLP evaluation database (data to December 2003) Information on benefits sanctions is not available. The Social Security Advisory Committee identified in late 2003 that work needed to be undertaken to review and evaluate the Sanctions Regime and DWP is nearing completion on a new Sanctions Database which will be operational following testing and evaluation. This will provide detailed sanction M1 on a regular basis and information will be published in the Library.