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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Project Work
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list (a) the offices and (b) the budget allocated for the Stoke on Trent project work pilot scheme; and what are the arrangements for the local administration of the scheme. [4366]
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Mr. Forth: (a) There are nine Employment Service jobcentres in the Stoke on Trent travel-to-work area. These are Stoke on Trent, Burslem, Cheadle, Hanley, Kidsgrove, Longton, Newcastle under Lyme, Leek and Uttoxeter. (b) £100 million has been allocated to operate the pilots, for up to 100,000 people across the country. The pilots will be administered by the Employment Service, through local jobcentres. The Employment Service will ensure that sufficient funds are made available in each travel-to-work area to cover the numbers entering the target group for the pilots, and the help which they accept.
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of those claimants referred to adjudication for refusal or failure to attend project work have (a) received a benefit sanction and (b) been adjudged to have good cause, broken down by the categories of good cause listed in the adjudication officers' guide. [4429]
Mr. Forth: In general, people whose actions fall under the categories of good cause listed in the adjudication officers' guide and in regulation 73 of the Jobseekers Allowance Regulations 1996 will be identified by a project work adviser in the local jobcentre, and not referred to an independent adjudication officer. In judging cases referred to them, sector adjudication officers are not restricted to the list referred to above, but can use their discretion to assess each case on an individual basis. To date, in every case where a sector adjudication officer has made a decision on a case referred for refusal to attend project work, a benefit sanction has been imposed. In 64 per cent. of cases where a decision has been made following referral on the grounds of failure to attend project work a benefit sanction has been imposed. The remainder of cases have been adjudged to have had a good cause.
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the comparative areas used for evaluation of the existing project work pilot schemes and the monthly returns from April 1996 in respect of claimants leaving the register in pilot and comparative areas broken down by duration of unemployment. [4430]
Mr. Forth: The comparison offices are Fakenham, Barton on Humber, Chapeltown, Great Yarmouth, Hillsborough, Newport, Cardigan, Portsmouth, Portsmouth North, Cosham, Newhaven, and Stretford.
On the latest available verified figures, 1,418 people left the pilot and stopped claiming benefit in the pilot areas, by the end of September, while 413 people had left benefit in the control offices. All these people have been unemployed for over two years. Over 400 of those who have left the register in the pilot areas had been out of work for more than four years, compared with 94 in the control areas. Ninety-eight of those leaving in pilot areas had not worked for over six years, compared with only nine people in the control areas.
These figures apply to all those who had entered the pilot by the end of September, including many who had only just entered.
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A breakdown of these figures by month produces numbers too small to allow reliable conclusions to be drawn. A report based on the monitoring information will be made available in the new year, when there is sufficient data available to allow a more in-depth analysis.
Mr. Rooney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of the job outcomes achieved by project work participants since inception of the scheme were (a) full-time permanent employment, (b) part-time employment, (c) self-employment and (d) temporary employment. [4431]
Mr. Forth:
Early results show that 20 per cent. of those who enter the pilot find a job before they complete the process. Further information is not yet available. A detailed statistical survey is being carried out on a sample of leavers from project work and this will provide information on these, and other, issues. The results of this survey will be available at the end of 1997.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what guidance has been issued for use by (a) the voluntary sector and (b) Church groups who operate services for young people. [4289]
Mr. Paice:
The Department issues guidance to national voluntary youth organisations, including Church bodies, on its scheme of grants to those organisations. This includes advice on how to bid for funding and on good practice in voluntary youth work.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to introduce measures to require elected parent representatives on governing bodies of independent schools; and if she will make a statement. [4365]
Mrs. Gillan:
We have no plans to legislate to interfere in this way in the constitution of independent schools' governing bodies.
Mr. Pickthall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to prescribe (a) the content and (b) teaching methods for teacher education. [4439]
Mr. Forth:
On 18 September, my right hon. Friend announced the introduction of a national curriculum for initial teacher training, starting with primary English and mathematics. It will specify what teachers need to be taught about their subject; what pupils should be taught; effective teaching and assessment methods, and how and when to use them; and the standards of pupil achievement they should expect.
Mr. Pickthall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate she has made of the cost of re-inspection of the 20 initial teacher education departments in higher education institutions; in what ways the criteria for the re-inspection are different for the criteria for the first inspection; for how many and which HEI teacher education departments the initial
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inspections have not been completed; and what criteria were used in choosing the 20 initial teacher education departments for re-inspection. [4438]
Mr. Forth:
This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, who heads the Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Mr. Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Rooney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the staff grade of local adjudication officers based in jobcentres; and what duties other than adjudication they are expected to undertake. [4432]
Mr. Forth:
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Grover to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 18 November 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me, in the absence of the Chief Executive, to reply to your question about Labour Market Adjudication Officers.
Mr. Forth:
Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from Derek Craven to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 18 November 1996:
Mr. Rooney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will place in the Library copies of (a) the central adjudication services guidance on jobseeker's allowance used by sector adjudication officers, (b) the Employment Service guidance on jobseeker's allowance used by local adjudication officers in jobcentres and (c) the volumes entitled "Local Office Adjudication and Adjudication Procedural Guidance" [4433]
The Labour Market Adjudication Officer (LMAO) role exists purely to decide questions arising on claims for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Only a small number of labour market adjudication questions will be decided in Jobcentres, and decisions on these questions will only be given by selected ES people who have been trained as LMAOs. The selection of people to perform this task is at the discretion of business managers and, when making their selection, the specific features of LMAO work will be a key consideration.
We do not expect there to be a need for the LMAO role to be carried out on a full-time basis, although this may change over time. The function will normally be performed by an adviser or a back to work team leader, in addition to their usual duties.
The grading of each individual post depends, therefore, on its content and it would not be right to assume that everyone carrying out the LMAO function should be allocated to the same pay band. In some situations, it may be that the additional LMAO responsibilities are sufficient to take the particular post into the next higher pay band. LMAO duties are, therefore, carried out by people in Management Pay Bands 5, 6 or 7, depending on the precise combination of duties.
It will take time for JSA and the role of the LMAO to settle down. Once a position of stability has been reached, we would expect a re-evaluation of individual posts to be carried out as appropriate.
I hope this is helpful.
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