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Child Care

Ms Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will make a statement on the role of child care information in the new child care strategy in relation to the Welfare to Work and Lifelong Learning Initiatives; [16439]

(2) if he will make a statement on co-ordination between the bodies involved in the New Deal in relation to child care information; [16440]

(3) what role the national child care organisations will play in the development of child care information services for the New Deal and Lifelong Learning Initiatives. [16441]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Child care is important to our Welfare to Work and Lifelong Learning strategies, particularly the New Deal for Lone Parents, which is why we have been consulting with national child care organisations to look at new and innovative ways of ensuring that information about child care opportunities will be readily available. This will feed into the National Childcare Strategy, which we are currently developing.

Social Fund Training Courses

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the termination of training courses previously run with the support of the European Social Fund. [16405]

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 164

Mr. Andrew Smith: The annual competition for funding through the European Social Fund (ESF) is intense and inevitably some projects are unsuccessful. In the competition for 1998 a proportion of successful applicants will be given approval for two years, subject to satisfactory performance. This will reduce for some projects the difficulties caused by the annual nature of the ESF.

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps his Department is taking to promote the principles of the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 among small employers exempted from the employment duties set out in the Act. [16422]

Mr. Alan Howarth: The Department has been considering how to proceed with the small employer exclusion threshold and has held initial discussions with representatives of employer and disability organisations on the matter. We will announce plans shortly.

Student Loans Company

Mr. Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when the Student Loans Company's 1997 annual report and accounts will be available. [16874]

Dr. Howells: Copies of the report and accounts have today been placed in the Library.

Employment Service

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what targets were set for the Employment Service for 1997-98; and to what extent these have been achieved, broken down into standard regions to the latest date for which information is available. [16485]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Figures are available for the first six months of the 1997-98 Operational Year (1 April to 30 September 1997). The following summary tables give a breakdown of cumulative performance against the Annual Performance Agreement targets by the standard Employment Service Regions. The overall performance figure is shown in the final column. This column also shows variance against profiled targets.

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 163

Performance figures relate to the period April to September 1997 Operation year: 1997-98

APA indicators		Northern	Yorks and The Humber	East Midlands and Eastern	London and South East	South West
Unemployed placings	End year target	76,475	147,000	140,700	415,800	138,775
	Performance to September	33,459	65,835	67,488	182,289	69,431
JSA claimant placings	End year target	52,000	95,865	88,700	261,000	86,100
	Performance to September	23,085	42,875	43,071	111,203	42,273
Long term claimant placings (as	End year target (per cent.)	45.4	43.4	44.0	57.1	42.4
percentage of JSA claimant placings)	Performance to September (per cent.)	38.4	39.3	35.4	46.7	37.7
2 year plus claimant placings	End year target	4,800	6,750	6,450	27,300	4,500
	Performance to September	1,911	4,437	3,527	16,110	4,399
Placings of people with disabilities	End year target (per cent.)	4.6	5.0	5.2	4.9	5.0
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Performance to September (per cent.)	5.6	6.2	6.0	6.3	7.5
Training for Work starts	End year target	11,146	14,771	14,342	36,835	12,335
	Performance to September	5,062	6,744	6,037	16,462	5,744
Positive outcomes for unemployed	End year target (per cent.)	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0
claimants invited to a 12 month advisory interview	Performance to September (per cent.)	48.3	48.3	53.1	44.8	56.2
Claims not pursued	End year target (per cent.)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
	Performance to September (per cent.)	12.9	11.5	13.4	11.8	12.8
Adjudication decisions made within	End year target (per cent.)	70.0	70.0	70.0	70.0	70.0
14 working days	Performance to September (per cent.)	This is information is not yet available. System changes have been commissioned.
Accuracy of Training for Work	End year target (per cent.)	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
payments	Performance to September (per cent.	99.0	98.7	98.3	97.8	97.3
JSA claims passed to the Benefits	End year target (per cent.)	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0
Agency within 7 days(19)	Performance to September (per cent.)	88.0	85.9	86.6	84.0	86.2
Accuracy of JSA payments(20)	End year target (per cent).	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
	Performance to September (per cent.)	95.4	95.0	96.5	95.8	95.9
Efficiency savings		The efficiency savings target is not profiled or allocated to Regions. The national target is £43 million. By September the ES had achieved £19.3 million.

(19) These figures should be treated with caution. The data are currently being investigated.

(20) Correct as at 10 October 1997.

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 165

		Office for Wales	West Midlands	North West	Office for Scotland	National
Unemployed placings	End year target	121,800	175,200	292,250	242,000	1,750,000
	Performance to September	55,973	79,316	108,827	105,309	767,927
JSA claimant placings	End year target	65,100	108,435	161,300	131,500	1,050,000
	Performance to September	28,912	47,522	61,064	60,784	460,789
Long term claimant placings (as	End year target (per cent.)	39.0	48.8	43.7	46.8	47.5
percentage of JSA claimant placings)	Performance to September (per cent.)	35.4	39.5	34.9	36.2	39.3
2 year plus claimant placings	End year target	3,450	6,750	8,175	6,825	75,000
	Performance to September	2,231	4,881	4,505	3,747	45,748
Placings of people with disabilities	End year target (per cent.)	5.2	4.9	4.5	4.4	4.8
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Performance to September (per cent.)	6.7	6.8	5.3	5.4	6.1
Training for Work starts	End year target	7,199	15,520	21,848	15,999	14,995
	Performance to September	3,003	6,968	10,632	8,863	69,515
Positive outcomes for unemployed	End year target (per cent.)	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.043.0
claimants invited to a 12 month advisory interview	Performance to September (per cent.)	53.0	50.4	52.7	49.4	49.3
Claims not pursued	End year target (per cent.)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
	Performance to September (per cent.)	12.9	12.3	11.3	12.0	12.1
Adjudication decisions made within	End year target (per cent.)	70.0	70.0	70.0	70.0	70.0
14 working days	Performance to September (per cent.)	This information is not yet available. System changes have been commissioned.
Accuracy of Training for Work	End year target (per cent.)	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
payments	Performance to September (per cent.)	98.8	98.2	99.0	99.0	98.4
JSA claims passed to the benefits	End year target (per cent.)	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0	90.0
agency within 7 days(21)	Performance to September (per cent.)	87.8	85.5	88.0	87.4	86.1
Accuracy of JSA payments(22)	End year target (per cent.)	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
	Performance to September	98.2	95.4	92.9	93.5	95.0
Efficiency savings		The efficiency savings target is not profiled or allocated to Regions. The national target is £43 million. By September the ES had achieved £19.3 million.

(21) These figures should be treated with caution. The data are currently being investigated.

(22) Correct as at 10 October 1997.

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 165

Mr. Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what targets were set for the Employment Service in 1996-97; and to what extent these were achieved, broken down into standard regions. [16484]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The following summary tables give a breakdown of cumulative performance in 1996-97 against the Annual Performance Agreement

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 166

targets by the standard Employment Service Regions. The overall National performance figure is shown in the final column. This column also shows variance against profiled targets.

More detailed information is available in the Employment Service Annual Report and Accounts laid before the House on 7 November 1997.

Operational year: 1996-97

APA indicators		Northern	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Midlands and Eastern	London and South East	South West
Unemployed placings	Target	93,900	145,600	160,450	500,900	157,200
	Actual	77,988	140,904	137,503	402,973	143,647
	Variance (per cent.)	-17	-3	-14	-20	-9
JSA claimant	Target	27,960	41,780	47,690	154,130	43,400
Placings (from October 1996)	Actual	25,215	44,979	47,314	127,747	46,731
	Variance (per cent.)	-10	8	-1	-17	8
Long term claimant placings	Actual (per cent.)	25.8	26.6	24.1	28.7	23.8
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Target (per cent.)	28.7	28.9	29.5	37.1	27.0
	Variance	-2.9	-2.3	-5.4	-8.4	-3.2
Placings of people with disabilities	Target (per cent.)	4.0	4.4	4.6	4.8	4.2
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Actual (per cent.)	4.7	5.4	5.4	5.2	5.8
	Variance	+0.7	+1.0	+0.8	+0.4	+1.6
Training for Work referrals	Target	36,000	48,000	50,880	125,745	39,000
	Actual	28,632	36,905	39,010	100,229	31,598
	Variance (per cent.)	-20	-23	-23	-20	-19
Training for Work starts	Target	12,000	16,000	16,960	41,915	13,000
	Actual	10,846	14,366	13,950	35,830	11,999
	Variance (per cent.)	-10	-10	-18	-15	-8
Positive outcomes for unemployed claimants	Target (per cent.)	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0
invited to a 12 month advisory interview	Actual (per cent.)	36.6	36.7	38.5	35.3	45.7
	Variance	-6.4	-6.3	-4.5	-7.7	+2.7
Positive outcomes for unemployed claimants	Target (per cent.)	35.0	35.0	35.0	35.0	35.0
invited to a 24 month advisory interview	Actual (per cent.)	28.8	28.5	29.7	29.3	37.5
	Variance	-6.2	-6.5	-5.3	-5.7	+2.5
Claims not pursued	Target (per cent.)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
	Actual (per cent.)	11.6	10.7	11.3	12.3	11.6
	Variance	+1.6	+0.7	+1.3	+2.3	+1.6
Submissions to adjudication(23)	Target	8,226	17,980	19,748	79,045	15,335
	Actual	8,742	17,910	17,680	78,485	13,276
	Variance (per cent.)	6	-0	-10	-1	-13
Accuracy of Training for Work payments	Target (per cent.)	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
	Actual (per cent.)	99.3	98.3	97.9	95.7	97.5
	Variance	+2.3	+1.3	+0.9	-1.3	+0.5
JSA claimants offered a jobseekers agreement	Target (per cent.)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	Actual (per cent.)	99.7	98.2	96.7	99.2	100.0
	Variance	-0.3	-1.8	-3.3	-0.8	-
Efficiency savings		The efficiency savings target is not profiled or allocated to Regions. In 1996-97 the national target was £43 million. The year end achievement was £44.34 million.

(23) Sum of individual regional targets greater than national target of 215,000 submissions.

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 167

APA Indicators		Office for Wales	West Midlands	North West	Office for Scotland	National
Unemployed placings	Target	130,750	191,350	333,850	256,000	1,970,000
	Actual	115,994	161,675	270,021	234,607	1,685,312
	Variance (per cent.)	-11	-16	-19	-8	-14
JSA claimant	Target	29,970	59,360	82,080	75,040	561,450
placings (from October 1996)	Actual	29,644	51,990	68,239	66,557	508,416
	Variance (per cent.)	-1	-12	-17	-11	-9
Long term claimant placings	Target (per cent.)	18.9	31.6	23.9	27.5	29.5
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Actual (per cent.)	18.7	26.0	19.7	22.5	24.3
	Variance (per cent.)	-0.2	-5.6	-4.2	-5	-5.2
Placing of people with disabilities	Target (per cent.)	4.4	4.5	4.0	4.1	4.4
(as percentage of unemployed placings)	Actual (per cent.)	5.5	5.5	4.4	4.6	5.1
	Variance	+1.1	+1.0	+0.4	+0.5	+0.7
Training for Work referrals	Target	29,790	45,000	69,825	44,760	489,000
	Actual	21,561	38,551	55,040	42,477	394,003
	Variance (per cent.)	-28	-14	-21	-5	-19
Training for Work starts	Target	9,930	15,000	23,275	14,920	163,000
	Actual	7,693	15,098	21,258	19,308	150,348
	Variance (per cent.)	-23	1	-9	29	-8
Positive outcomes for unemployed claimants	Target (per cent.)	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0	43.0
invited to a 12 month advisory interview	Actual (per cent.)	36.2	41.5	37.6	39.0	37.8
	Variance	-6.8	-1.5	-5.4	-4.0	-5.2
Positive outcomes for unemployed claimants	Target (per cent.)	35.0	35.0	35.0	35.0	35.0
invited to a 24 month advisory interview	Actual (per cent.)	29.5	33.4	29.9	30.7	30.3
	Variance	-5.5	-1.6	-5.1	-4.3	-4.7
Claims not pursued	Target (per cent.)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0
	Actual (per cent.)	11.4	11.6	9.6	10.8	11.3
	Variance	+1.4	+1.6	+0.4	+0.8	+1.3
Submissions to adjudication(24)	Target	9,513	13,500	36,223	16,942	216,512
	Actual	9,714	10,245	32,498	14,141	202,691
	Variance (per cent.)	2	-24	-10	-17	-6
Accuracy of Training for Work payments	Target (per cent.)	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0	97.0
	Actual (per cent.)	98.4	98.6	98.6	98.8	98.1
	Variance (per cent.)	+1.4	+1.6	+1.6	+1.8	+1.1
JSA claimants offered a jobseekers agreement	Target (per cent.)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	Actual (per cent.)	97.8	99.7	98.6	100.0	98.9
	Variance	-2.2	--0.3	--0.4	-	-1.1
Efficiency savings		The efficiency savings target is not profiled or allocated to Regions.
In 1996-97 the national target was £43 million.
The year end achievement was £44.34 million.

(24) Sum of individual regional targets greater than national target of 215,000 submissions.

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 169

18 Nov 1997 : Column: 169

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