§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost is of carrying out the Destination of Benefit Leavers Survey; what information he expects to obtain from it; and if he will make a statement. [188912]
§ Mr. PondThe 2004 Destination of Benefit Leavers Survey is currently being carried out. The estimated cost of the survey is £488,000. Plans are in place to publish the key findings from the 2004 Destination of Benefit Leavers Survey in early 2005.
The research aims to collect information on the immediate destinations of around 20,000 income support, incapacity benefit or jobseeker allowance (JSA) unknown destination benefit leavers. Specifically, we are looking to obtain information on why the claimant has left benefit (for example, they have moved into work, training or education); details of hours worked and earnings (if the destinations is into work); current activity (at the time of interview); and demographic information not already held administratively by the Department.
This is a repeat of the 2003 survey. A copy of the report (2003 Destination of Benefit Leavers in-house research report No. 132) is available in the Library.
At present, comprehensive information on immediate destinations is collected for JSA recipients only. The information gathered via the destination survey is, therefore, an important and significant development to the Department's analytical evidence base and will 1736WS enable the Department to monitor and evaluate the number of claimants flowing off benefits and into work from the three key working age benefits.
The survey is part of a wider package of work that is being carried out to improve our information and is an interim measure for collection of destinations data until future income support and incapacity benefit administrative solutions are introduced in late 2004/early 2005.