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Restart Interviews
Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many restart interviews were conducted in 1996-97; and, of these, how many claimants (a) were placed directly into a job, (b) claimed other benefits, (c) entered a Government programme and (d) signed off from claiming benefit. [7766]
Mr. Alan Howarth: 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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 10 July 1997:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about restart interviews and their outcomes. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
The figures that you have requested are shown in the following table:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Number of restart interviews | 3,270,278 |
| Placings | 147,021 |
| Claimed other benefits | 65,962 |
| Government programmes | 507,167 |
| Signed off from claiming | 316,574 |
I hope this is helpful.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Mr. Rooney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many claimants had their jobseeker's allowance reduced during 1996-97 for (a) two weeks and (b) four weeks for not attending or failing to complete (i) jobplan workshops, (ii) restart courses, (iii) workwise and worklink, (iv) 1-2-1, (v) project work and (vi) non-prescribed Government programmes where referral was under a jobseeker's direction. [7733]
10 Jul 1997 : Column: 558
Mr. Alan Howarth:
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 Leigh Lewis to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 10 July 1997:
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about how many claimants had their Jobseeker's Allowance reduced during 1996/97 for: (a) two weeks and (b) fours weeks, for not attending or failing to complete (i) jobplan workshops, (ii) restart courses, (iii) workwise and worklink, (iv) 1-2-1, (v) Project Work and (vi) non-prescribed Government programmes where referral was under a jobseeker's Direction. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Employment Service.
Mr. Howarth:
We have made no such estimates. We shall offer high quality options of work and training which we expect to be attractive to those eligible to participate in the New Deal.
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for what reason there is an upper age limit for student loans; and if he will make a statement. [7095]
10 Jul 1997 : Column: 559
Dr. Howells:
Loans are made with the expectation that they will be repaid. Older students are less likely to repay loans, because of the shorter time they will work after graduation. But they are more likely to have access to other funds, such as savings or commercial loans.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the funding methodology for young people on New Deal who are participating in the employment option. [7690]
Mr. Andrew Smith:
Employers will be offered a subsidy equivalent to £60 a week for 26 weeks, if they recruit a young person who is eligible for the New Deal. They will be required to provide training, or to release the young person for training, for one day a week. Funding of £750 per person will be made available. The young people recruited in this way will be full employees, in regular work, and will be remunerated accordingly.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what targets he is setting for the outputs of the New Deal. [7686]
Mr. Smith:
In due course, we will be setting and publishing targets through the Employment Service's 1998-99 Annual Performance Agreement.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what action will be taken against young people who consistently refuse to participate in New Deal.[7687]
Mr. Smith:
All four options under the New Deal will be designed to provide opportunities of genuine quality to help young people improve their employability and get into work. As rights and responsibilities go together, there will be no fifth option on full benefit. Benefit sanctions will be applied to those young people who are assessed by an Adjudication Officer to have unreasonably refused to take up a place on an option notified to them by an employment officer. Persistent refusal could result in a succession of sanctions.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how the New Deal for young people will be linked to modern apprenticeships; and what is his policy towards the development of national traineeships.[7688]
Mr. Smith:
Progression to a modern apprenticeship may be an appropriate next step for some of the young people aged 18-24 who achieve NVQ level 2 qualifications as part of their participation in the New Deal.
Our view is that national traineeships, which focus chiefly on 16 and 17-year-olds and build on the design principles of the successful modern apprenticeships, will play an important part in achieving the objectives of Target 2000. It is vital that we improve substantially on current levels of participation and achievement to NVQ level 2 post 16 if we are to ensure that young people are qualified for the jobs of the next century. Target 2000 provides the broad policy framework for that, and the work based route has a vital role to play.
10 Jul 1997 : Column: 560
Mr. Fallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those schools visited by each Minister with responsibility for schools since their appointment, indicating the dates of each visit. [7667]
Dr. Howells:
Details requested of ministerial visits to schools up to 9 July are as follows:
Mr. Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate she has made of the number of people aged 18 to 24 years who will face a benefit sanction of 100 per cent. of their jobseeker's allowance at any time during the first full year of operation of the welfare-to-work proposals. [7771]
Information on the number of Adjudication Officers' decisions and opinions, and disallowance rates, is contained in a published document entitled "Analysis of Adjudication Officers' Decisions". This provides information on all of the labour market entitlement and sanction questions arising on claims. Copies of this document are held in the Library of the House.
Unfortunately, information is not available in the form you request. However, it may be helpful if I explain that a total of 763 sanctions were imposed in 1996/97 for:
refusal of a place on a training scheme or employment programme,
failure to attend a place on a training scheme or employment programme,
giving up a place on a training scheme or employment programme,
losing a place on a training scheme or employment programme through misconduct, and
neglect to avail of a place on a training scheme or employment programme.
Schemes and programmes included in this definition are Jobplan Workshops, Restart Courses, Workwise, Worklink, and Project Work. Employment Service statistics do not identify the number of sanctions relating to each programme, nor do they differentiate between two week and four week sanctions.
The total number of sanctions imposed in 1996/97 for refusal or failure to carry out a Jobseeker's Direction was 215. It is not possible to say whether any of these related to employment programmes.
There is no specific sanction relating to failure to attend 1-2-1 interviews, but entitlement to Jobseeker's Allowance can be lost if a person fails to attend, without good cause, any Employment Service advisory interview. The total number of sanctions on these grounds during 1996/97 was 110.
I hope this is helpful.
| School | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of State: | |
| 11 June | Saint Matthew's Church School, London |
| 13 June | Abraham Moss School, Manchester |
| 24 June | St. Vincent's de Paul School, London |
| 1 July | BRIT School, Croydon |
| 7 July | Avonmore Primary School, London |
| Minister of State, Mr. Byers: | |
| 3 June | Charles Edward Brooke School, Vauxhall, London |
| 23 June 30 June | Upbury Manor GM School, Gillingham, Kent Southfields GM School, Gravesend, Kent Kelsey Park GM School, Beckenham, Kent Our Lady of Fatima GM School, Liverpool |
| 3 July | Lilian Baylis School, London SE11 Mostyn Gardens Primary School, London SW9 |
| 4 July | Gosforth High School, Gosforth, Newcastle Egglescliffe School, Stockton on Tees |
| 9 July | Handsworth Wood Boys' School, Birmingham |
| Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State: | |
| Dr. Howells: | |
| 20 May | Kingsbury School, Brent, London |
| 9 July | Colfox School, Bridport Ivybridge Community College, Plymouth |
| Ms Estelle Morris | |
| 6 June | Stanville Primary School, Birmingham |
| 18 June | Loxford School of Science and Technology, Ilford, London |
| 20 June | Mapledene Infants School, Birmingham Cockshut Hill School, Birmingham |
| 4 July | Whalley Range High School, Manchester |
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