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Departmental Policies (Bournemouth)

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effect of his Department's policies on the residents of Bournemouth since 1992, with special reference to the effects of changes in the resources provided in real terms. [14950]

Mr. Howard: Since 1979, spending on Dorset police has increased by 112 per cent. in real terms. Next year, 1997-98, Dorset police will be able to increase its spending by 3.9 per cent.--£2.7 million. Spending would then be over 16 per cent. higher in real terms than it was in 1992-93. By March 1997, it is estimated that there will be 142 more police officers in Dorset than there were in May 1979--19 of whom will have been recruited in 1996-97. Last year, two schemes in Bournemouth won money in the Government's closed circuit television challenge competition: Westbourne core shopping centre, £59,000, and Moordown St. John's Church of England primary school, £5,328. There are now 58 special constables in Bournemouth.

Data Collection (Postcodes)

Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use his Department and its agencies make of postcode areas for the collection of data and in formulas for the distribution of grants and awards; and when such usages were last reviewed. [14801]

Mr. Howard: My Department and its agencies by and large do not make regular use of postcodes in the areas of interest. The postcode address file is used as the basis for social and criminal research as and when the need arises. Resource allocation formulae generally use census data at a high level of geographic aggregation and are not dependent on postcode areas. However, some use of the ACORN--a classification of residential neighbourhoods--classification, for which postcodes form the base, is used in the police funding formula which is reviewed regularly. Use has also been made in research of postcodes to convert 1981 census enumeration districts to 1991 census enumeration districts.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 323

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Benefit Claimants

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many claimants in (a) each standard region and (b) Great Britain as a whole in each quarter since 1990 were (i) signing on for unemployment-related benefits, (ii) signing on for national insurance credits, (iii) signing on by post for unemployment-related benefits and (iv) signing on by post for national insurance credits. [13588]

Mr. Forth [holding answer 30 January 1997]: The information requested is shown in the following tables.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 324

However, the regular count for the number of postal claimants was suspended during the early months of jobseeker's allowance until claims have been transferred from the old to the new computer system. Arrangements have been made for a special one-off count to be made towards the end of February. Although we expect that the total will be lower, this will not necessarily indicate the number of jobseekers who have changed from postal to fortnightly signing, since it will also reflect moves in and out of unemployment. No figures are available for the number of jobseekers whose status has changed as a result of the new postal rules on signing.

Information is not collected on the number of claimants who sign on by post and receive credits of national insurance contributions only.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 323

All Unemployed Claimants and Unemployed Claimants with no benefit in payment: 1990-1996--Great Britain

	May 90		November 1990		May 1991		November 1991(1)		May 1992		August 1992
	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB not IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB not IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment
Great Britain	1,432	220	1,559	246	2,048	280	2,313	301	2,546	313	2,641	347
South-East	320	55	382	68	573	92	--	--	808	108	845	120
East Anglia	34	6	39	7	56	9	--	--	74	10	75	11
South West	84	15	101	20	145	22	--	--	196	28	204	31
West Midlands	137	19	150	24	210	28	--	--	263	30	272	34
East Midlands	90	15	97	16	127	17	--	--	162	20	167	22
Yorkshire and Humberside	155	24	164	25	202	26	--	--	227	27	234	30
North West	226	31	230	31	277	31	--	--	317	34	326	38
North	114	16	119	17	139	17	--	--	151	17	152	18
Wales	80	12	87	14	107	14	--	--	120	14	124	15
Scotland	192	26	190	25	212	25	--	--	228	25	242	28

Notes:

(1) Regional analyses from November 1991 data are not available.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Quarterly data is not available prior to May 1992.

Source:

May 1990 to May 1991--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

November 1991 to November 1994--100 per cent. count of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

February 1995 to May 1996--5 per cent. of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the Second Thursday of the months shown.

Figures from Department of Social Security.

	November 1992		February 1993		May 1993		August 1993		November 1993
	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment
Great Britain	2,687	368	2,840	370	2,759	335	2,821	364	2,640	312
South East	876	126	924	128	911	116	932	125	874	104
East Anglia	78	12	85	12	83	11	82	12	77	10
South West	212	34	226	33	211	28	213	31	202	28
West Midlands	275	36	291	38	281	33	287	36	264	31
East Midlands	169	24	181	24	175	23	178	23	166	20
Yorkshire and Humberside	235	30	251	31	242	28	246	31	231	27
North West	320	40	334	40	324	36	330	40	305	34
North	158	20	168	20	166	19	169	20	165	18
Wales	125	16	131	16	126	14	130	16	124	15
Scotland	238	30	249	29	240	27	253	30	233	26

Notes:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Quarterly data is not available prior to May 1992.

Source:

May 1990 to May 1991--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

November 1991 to November 1992--100 per cent. count of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

February 1995 to May 1996--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

Figures from Department of Social Security.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 323

	February 1994		May 1994		August 1994		November 1994		February 1995		May 1995
	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment
Great Britain	2,727	317	2,551	281	2,542	266	2,341	240	2,376	239	2,222	231
South East	885	104	834	91	823	84	760	74	760	73	722	74
East Anglia	82	10	75	9	73	8	67	8	71	8	66	8
South West	212	28	192	24	188	22	178	21	181	21	164	19
West Midlands	267	31	248	28	250	27	224	24	223	24	209	22
East Midlands	176	22	165	21	165	19	150	17	160	18	148	16
Yorkshire and Humberside	241	27	228	24	228	24	212	22	220	22	206	21
North West	315	35	297	30	295	29	268	26	271	25	253	24
North	170	18	161	17	160	16	155	16	156	15	147	15
Wales	130	15	120	13	120	13	111	12	113	12	105	11
Scotland	247	26	232	23	240	24	215	22	222	22	201	21

Notes:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Quarterly data is not available prior to May 1992.

Source:

May 1990 to May 1991--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

November 1991 to November 1994--100 per cent. count of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

February 1995 to May 1995--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

Figures from Department of Social Security.

	August 1995		November 1995		February 1996		May 1996
	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment	Total Claimants	Neither UB nor IS in payment
Great Britain	2,263	242	2,117	216	2,226	229	2,072	206
South East	732	76	688	66	704	70	660	63
East Anglia	66	7	62	7	67	8	62	7
South West	164	19	158	18	167	19	150	16
West Midlands	215	24	196	21	205	22	193	20
East Midlands	149	18	138	15	150	17	138	14
Yorkshire and Humberside	211	22	198	20	211	22	194	19
North West	257	26	238	22	253	24	238	21
North	149	16	143	15	148	14	138	14
Wales	110	12	104	12	111	12	103	11
Scotland	211	22	193	21	208	22	197	20

Notes:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Quarterly data is not available prior to May 1992.

Source:

May 1990 to May 1991--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

November 1991 to November 1994--100 per cent. count of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

February 1995 to May 1996--5 per cent. sample of Unemployed Claimants in Great Britain taken on the second Thursday of the months shown.

Figures from Department of Social Security.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 325

Number of jobseekers signing on by post for unemployment related benefits (including credits) 1990-93. Great Britain

	1990				1991
Region	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter
Total number of claimants. Great Britain	81,983	74,071	87,149	95,232	120,594	131,018	138,986	146,362
East Midlands and Eastern	13,669	13,675	18,404	21,317	26,884	25,757	25,694	25,947
London and South East	8,780	7,491	10,843	14,473	22,194	31,342	33,201	33,518
Northern	2,693	2,349	3,048	3,090	3,939	4,291	4,570	4,816
North West	3,292	3,073	3,510	3,403	4,045	4,321	4,888	5,179
South West	10,415	8,960	10,173	12,071	15,534	16,825	18,062	19,906
West Midlands	3,255	2,979	3,451	3,585	4,458	5,180	5,937	6,706
Yorkshire and the Humber	6,568	6,080	7,435	7,803	9,585	10,396	11,332	12,697
Office for Scotland	25,289	22,530	22,628	21,438	24,626	23,344	24,985	26,728
Office for Wales	8,023	6,934	7,657	8,053	9,328	9,562	10,318	10,865

Source:

Resources Monitoring system database.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 325

	1992				1993
Region	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter
Total number of claimants. Great Britain	169,912	172,123	185,028	198,048	218,769	207,159	203,662	195,468
East Midlands and Eastern	30,430	31,311	32,268	33,490	37,559	35,573	34,641	32,237
London and South East	39,728	43,885	49,738	56,056	62,464	60,625	62,181	58,619
Northern	5,359	5,153	5,091	5,554	6,151	5,565	5,558	5,455
North West	5,678	5,643	6,097	6,407	7,239	6,730	6,898	6,554
South West	22,920	23,517	25,664	27,628	30,211	27,647	26,482	25,434
West Midlands	7,054	7,157	7,692	7,753	8,584	10,077	7,688	7,320
Yorkshire and the Humber	15,971	15,646	16,916	17,359	19,127	17,960	17,532	16,909
Office for Scotland	30,744	28,415	29,678	31,313	34,206	30,874	30,686	31,001
Office for Wales	12,029	11,396	11,884	12,486	13,227	12,107	11,995	11,939

Source:

Resources Monitoring system database.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 327

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 327

Number of jobseekers signing on by post for unemployment related benefits (including credits) 1994-1996. Great Britain.

	1994				1995				1996
Regions	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr	1st qtr	2nd qtr	3rd qtr	4th qtr
Total number of claimants. Great Britain.	197,154	178,436	169,798	155,711	156,865	136,925	129,020	118,714	118,489	101,208	91,145
East Midlands and Eastern.	33,179	30,441	28,038	23,908	23,663	21,094	17,353	12,285	9,882	8,230	6,313
London and South East.	54,972	50,059	46,089	41,096	41,565	32,230	32,811	29,663	28,298	24,382	20,885
Northern.	5,786	5,291	5,193	5,281	4,766	4,703	4,539	4,272	4,408	4,034	3,761
North West.	6,760	6,057	6,078	5,763	5,901	5,085	4,804	4,215	4,427	3,787	3,279
South West.	25,560	22,717	14,654	20,180	20,228	17,669	15,964	15,478	15,450	11,506	9,222
West Midlands.	7,286	6,309	5,902	5,443	5,388	4,462	4,472	4,116	4,067	3,320	3,350
Yorkshire and the Humber.	17,675	16,230	16,065	13,791	13,586	12,244	12,154	11,935	12,239	10,726	9,781
Office for Scotland.	33,885	30,546	30,502	29,806	31,089	27,570	26,966	26,926	29,855	26,196	25,961
Office for Wales.	12,051	10,787	11,120	10,443	10,678	9,869	9,957	9,825	9,855	9,026	8,591

Source:

Resources Monitoring system database.

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 327

14 Feb 1997 : Column: 327

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