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Third-age Apprenticeships (Wirral)
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to develop third age apprenticeships in the Wirral. [15594]
Mr. McCartney: Third age apprenticeships are still in the early stages of development. Their purpose is to increase the take up of training within the new deal 50-plus programme, and to engage more directly with employers in particular sectors of the market rather than in particular locations.
The new deal 50-plus is already operational in the Wirral, helping with the recruitment and training of older people. In the first 18 months of national operation the new deal 50-plus has helped over 51,000 people back into work. Up to the end of September 2001, 382 people in the Wirral unit of delivery area had returned to work with the help of the Employment Credit 1 .
- 1 Source:
- New Deal Evaluation Database
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Departmental Initiatives
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list for each (a) area-based and (b) other regeneration-related initiative for which his Department is responsible (i) the amount budgeted and (ii) the total expenditure in each financial year for the planned lifetime of each initiative (a) in the UK and (b) in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency. [16432]
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list for each (a) area-based and (b) other regeneration-related initiative for which his Department is responsible (i) the amount budgeted and (ii) the total expended in each financial year for the planned lifetime of each initiative. [14037]
Mr. Nicholas Brown [holding answer 20 November 2001]: Action Teams for Jobs are the Department's main Area-Based Initiative. They are based in some of the most employment-deprived areas of Great Britain and work closely with local regeneration-related initiatives.
Action teams were announced as a one-year initiative in the March 2000 Budget. Three pathfinder Teams started in June 2000, 37 others followed in mid-October 2000, all completed their first year on 12 October 2001. Although final figures are not yet available, initial results indicate that the Teams have engaged over 38,000 clients and helped 41 per cent. (over 15,500) of them into work.
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget that the initiative would be extended to March 2004 and expanded to include seven new areas, while a number of existing areas would be divided to sharpen their focus on the most disadvantaged areas. By 2002 there will 63 action teams across GB.
Information on action team budgets and expenditure is not available in the form requested. £45.5 million was available for the original 40 teams for their initial one-year life-span. £133 million in total has been allocated to the initiative for the period October 2001 to March 2004.
An action team has been operating in the area covered by the Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Employment Zone since October 2000. It did not originally include any part of the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency. However, in March 2001 the Team's remit was extended to cover certain disadvantaged groups across the whole of Redcar and Cleveland.
From January 2002 there will be two separate action teams in the Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland area. One in Middlesbrough, covering 13 wards with high levels of worklessness (Ayresome; Beckfield; Beechwood; Berwich; Easterside; Grove Hill; Hemlington; North Ormsby; Pallister; Park End; St. Hilda's; Stainton and Thornton and Thorntree) and another in Redcar and
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Cleveland covering six wards (Coatham; Newcomen; Grangetown; South Bank; Kirkleatham and Easton). The Middlesbrough Action Team will include two wards in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency, Hemlington and Park End.
The current Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Action Team has been allocated £625,000 for the period October 2000 to December 2001. The new Middlesbrough Action Team has been allocated £760,000 a year from January 2002 and the new Redcar and Cleveland Action Team has been allocated £500,000 a year.
Another Area-Based Initiative is the Employment Zone initiative which was introduced in April 2000 to test out an alternative approach to delivering help to long-term unemployed people find work. They are located in 15 areas of the country where there are high concentrations of long-term unemployment.
Originally intended to run for two years until March 2002, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment announced in February 2001 that the Zones would be extended for one year until March 2003.
The amount budgeted and the total expenditure to date is as follows:
| Year | Budget | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 52.945 | 68.273 |
| 2001–02 | 83.374 | — |
| 2002–03 | 53.574 | — |
The Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Employment Zone covers the following wards in the Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East constituency: Hutton, Guisborough, Saltburn, Skelton, Belmont, Brotton, Lockwood, Loftus, Hemlington and Park End. The Zone's total expenditure for the financial year 2000–01 was nearly £3.2 million.
It is not possible to identify other specific regeneration- related expenditure in any meaningful way. All the programmes run by the Department for Work and Pensions aim to support the Government's overarching commitment to tackling social exclusion and poverty and improving economic growth. We are doing this in particular by providing a joined-up approach to employment and benefit policies for people of working age, with a single modern, nationwide point of delivery for advice and support on jobs and benefits through Jobcentre Plus; and by introducing a new Pension Service to provide advice and support to today's and tomorrow's pensioners, including the introduction of the pension credit.
New Deal
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Glasgow (a) are unemployed and (b) have found work from the new deal. [21665]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information is as follows:
(a) There are currently 17,992 unemployed claimants in Glasgow, a fall of one-third since 1997.
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(b) The available information is in the table.
| Programme | Number of people helped into work in the Glasgow Unit of Delivery area(9) |
|---|---|
| New deal for young people | 6,369 |
| New deal 25 plus | 1,071 |
| New deal for lone parents | 2,073 |
| New deal 50 plus(10) | (11)907 |
| New deal for partners | (12)32 |
| Total | 10,452 |
(9) Up to the end of September 2001
(10) Employment credit claims
(11) At end of October 2001
(12) At 26 October 2001—Source: Employment Service Labour Market System
Source:
New Deal Evaluation Database
The information is not available for the new deal for disabled people.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) record is kept and (b) assessment is made of the destinations of people who leave the new deal for 50-plus for employment. [18056]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: Records are kept of participants in new deal 50-plus who have entered work with the support of the new deal 50-plus employment credit, broken down by gender, ethnicity, disability and type of employment (full-time, part-time or self-employed). An assessment of the destinations will be covered by the evaluation of the programme.
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much public money has been given to each private company in Leicester operating a new deal initiative; [20258]
- (2) how much public money has been spent on the new deal in the city of Leicester. [20257]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The total expenditure on new deal programmes in the Leicestershire unit of delivery since the introduction of new deal in April 1998 until the end of October 2001 is £22,283,937. This includes staffing costs for the Employment Service, programme expenditure and other associated costs.
It is not possible to give details of how much public money is given to individual private companies involved in the programmes, as this would be a breach of commercial confidentiality.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what steps he is taking to prevent (a) local authorities and (b) monopoly training agencies diverting new deal training budgets from training provision to administrative budgets; [20758]
- (2) what action he will take to ensure that the organisations that provide training for new deal trainees receive the bulk of money allocated for the purpose; [20756]
(3) if he will take action to prevent (a) local authorities and (b) other training agencies from top-slicing the individual cash allocation for training each new deal trainee in such a way that the bulk of the budget goes for administration rather than training. [20757]
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Mr. Nicholas Brown: Costs associated with training provision are reflected in the contract price. Payment is made to contractors in line with actual performance in delivering training to agreed standards.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 160W, what proportion of the number of people leaving for (a) employment and (b) sustained employment in Government Departments represents of the (i) total number of people leaving the new deal for the long-term unemployed and (ii) the number of people leaving the new deal for the long-term unemployed for employment. [18040]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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