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12 May 2004 : Column 359W—continued

Timber

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether his Department plans to contribute financially to the establishment of the second phase of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber. [167621]

Mr. Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Environment and Agri-Environment on 10 May 2004, Official Report, column 31W.

CABINET OFFICE

Panel for Regulatory Accountability

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to his answers of 4 May 2004, Official Report, columns 1444W and 1404–405W, on the Panel for Regulatory Accountability, who the chairman of the Panel for Regulatory Accountability is. [172097]

Mr. Alexander: In future, any regulatory proposals likely to impose a major new burden on business will require clearance from the Panel for Regulatory Accountability chaired by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, and in his absence my right hon. Friend the Chancellor. I will chair panel meetings which consider specific regulatory and policy issues.
 
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Regulatory Impact Assessments

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many regulatory impact statements have been brought to his attention in the last 12 months, with particular reference to the Evaluation of Regulatory Impact Assessments Compendium Report 2003–04, March 2004, pages 25–26. [171610]

Mr. Alexander: The Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) is a paragraph that can be included in the Cabinet paper or ministerial letter to colleagues seeking collective agreement to a proposal that impacts on business. The Small Business Service can have its view recorded in both the Regulatory Impact Assessment and the RIS. Such correspondence is routinely sent to all members of the relevant Cabinet Committee. As has been the practice under previous Administrations, Cabinet Committee correspondence is exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. All Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) must include an assessment of the impact of the proposal on small firms' except where the proposal solely affects the public services.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Employment Statistics

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) unemployment claimants and (b) job vacancies there were in each region of the UK in each of the last 12 months. [172127]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. George Osborne, dated 12 May 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployed claimants and job vacancies in each region of the UK in each of the last 12 months. (172127)

The attached Table 1 gives the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance, seasonally adjusted, for each Government Office Region, and for the UK in total, for each of the 12 months up to March 2004.

The attached Table 2 shows the total numbers of job vacancies in the UK for each month, according to the ONS Vacancy Survey. These vacancy statistics are not available for regions. As these statistics only began in April 2001, they are not yet available on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Jobcentre vacancy statistics, which used to be available by region, were withdrawn from National Statistics in September 2001 as a result of distortions to the data which occurred following the introduction of new administrative procedures by Jobcentre Plus.

 
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Table 1: Monthly average number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (seasonally adjusted) April 2003—March 2004, UK Government Office Regions Thousand

Government Office Region	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
2003
March
East Midlands	59.0	59.6	60.2	59.7	59.3	59.3	59.1	58.3	57.4
Eastern	58.5	59.2	59.4	58.6	58.0	57.8	57.5	57.5	57.0
London	172.0	172.8	172.8	171.6	170.9	170.5	170.2	169.3	168.6
North East	53.6	54.5	53.4	52.5	52.2	52.0	51.3	50.8	50.0
North West	112.9	113.9	113.4	112.1	110.6	110.4	109.5	107.7	105.9
Northern Ireland	34.3	35.0	35.1	34.1	34.5	34.6	34.7	34.3	34.0
Scotland	99.7	100.3	100.8	99.8	98.6	99.6	99.4	98.6	97.9
South East	75.7	76.3	76.5	76.2	75.9	76.2	76.0	75.9	75.3
South West	48.8	49.6	49.9	49.1	48.4	48.1	47.6	46.7	45.8
Wales	45.5	45.7	45.6	45.0	44.3	43.6	43.2	42.7	42.1
West Midlands	95.3	95.8	95.6	94.9	94.6	94.3	94.2	93.6	93.1
Yorkshire and The Humber	84.6	85.8	85.7	84.0	82.9	82.7	81.9	80.1	78.4
UK	939.9	948.5	948.4	937.6	930.2	929.1	924.6	915.5	905.5

Government Office Region	January	February	March
2004
March
East Midlands	55.6	54.8	54.7
Eastern	56.3	56.4	56.5
London	167.2	166.0	165.3
North East	49.1	48.2	47.7
North West	103.2	103.2	102.5
Northern Ireland	33.5	33.0	32.5
Scotland	96.2	96.2	95.9
South East	74.5	74.0	73.6
South West	44.6	44.0	43.7
Wales	41.5	41.5	41.5
West Midlands	92.6	92.1	91.6
Yorkshire and The    Humber	77.4	77.0	76.7
UK	891.7	886.4	882.2

Source:
Jobcentre Plus administrative system.




Table 2: Monthly number of job vacancies (not seasonally adjusted) UK, April 2003 to March 2004 Thousand

Month/year	Number of vacancies
2003
April	564.5
May	605.3
June	578.8
July	568.6
August	609.9
September	642.7
October	651.3
November	620.3
December	552.0
2004
January	515.9
February	622.1
March	629.0

Source:
ONS Vacancy Survey.

Health and Safety

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he last met members of the Health and Safety Executive; and what was discussed. [168231]

Jane Kennedy [holding answer 28 April 2004]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with the Director General of the Health and Safety Executive
 
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together with the Chair of the Health and Safety Commission on 1 August 2002. He welcomed the Commission and the Executive to the Department, discussed and agreed their strategic priorities and arrangements for them to meet regularly with the Minister of State for Work.

My right hon. Friend also met with Deputy Director General (Policy) on 13 November and 18 November 2003. They discussed implementation of European legislation in the UK.

Jobcentre Plus

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) when the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group was formed; [168842]

(2) who the members are of the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group; [168843]

(3) what the main (a) function and (b) purpose is of the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group; [168844]

(4) what the selection process is for the membership of the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group; [168845]

(5) how often and where the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group meetings take place. [168846]

Jane Kennedy: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from David Anderson to Mr. George Osborne, dated 12 May 2004:

As Jobcentre Plus is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your questions concerning the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.

The inaugural meeting of the Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group was held on the 6th September 2002.

The Jobcentre Plus Provider Liaison Group's membership includes representatives from several of our largest work-based private sector providers, together with providers in the voluntary and community sector, smaller private providers and Further Education establishments. In addition, membership includes the Association of Learning Providers (ALP), a trade body for the work-based sector who represent approximately 30% of Jobcentre Plus providers. The Group is supported by a small secretariat from Jobcentre Plus. Full membership of the Group is set out in Annex 1.

 
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The purpose of the Group is to provide a forum in which providers are consulted on changes to policy and operational processes. In practice this gives them the opportunity to comment upon policies from their perspective as organisations that deliver these policies. The Group enables Jobcentre Plus to obtain the views of providers from a wide background and should help ensure that our business can be delivered more effectively and efficiently.

There is no formal selection process. In order to ensure the arrangements are manageable, the Group has a membership of approximately 20. However, we do try to be inclusive as possible, and membership is potentially open to each of our providers. In setting up the group we attempted to ensure that a range of providers was represented. In addition to our inviting a number of the largest providers, each Jobcentre Plus Region was requested to nominate a local provider, to ensure that the Group offers views from smaller providers. Some Jobcentre Plus regions also hold their own meetings of local provider groups where there are region-specific issues to discuss.

The Group meets on a regular basis, usually bi-monthly, and meetings are held in Sheffield.

I hope this is helpful.

Annex 1: Jobcentre Plus Provider Group Membership

Contact	Provider
David Bailey	Action for Employment
Steve Marsland	Action for Employment
Pat Taylor	Personnel Evaluation Consultants
George Allon	BTCV
Roger Cole	Pelcombe Training
Stephanie Baslington	Rathbone
Janet Pibworth	Seetec
Jim McIntosh	Shaw Trust
Teresa Jolly/Colin Kearney	Sheffield City Council
George Baines	Standguide
Jim Gambles	Standguide
Martin Dunford	TBG learning
Dawn Marsh	The Training Network Group
A Townson	Bournemouth and Poole College
Gerard Irwin	Reed Co. UK.
Sian Woolson	Dash Training Ltd
Diane Prosser	Dash Training Ltd
Sharon Cooke	Bethany Group
Sarah Cooke	DHP enterprises
David Cameron	Scottish Council for voluntary    organisations
Sarah Knight	Instant Muscle
Paul Warner	ALP
Adrienne Nolan	WACG LMD Skills and Int
Beth Simpson	DFES
Peter Jordan	LSC
David Williams	TD management Services
Jill Valentine	UFI

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