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28 Mar 2006 : Column 939W—continued

Jobcentre Plus

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what internet sites operated by Jobcentre Plus are available to jobseekers; and how their existence is publicised. [60788]

Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lesley Strathie:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what Internet sites operated by Jobcentre Plus are available to jobseekers and how their existence is publicised. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

The Jobcentre Plus website (www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk) is our Internet service for jobseekers. The site allows users to search our extensive database of some 400,000 vacancies. In addition, the site provides job hunting advice and information on programmes such as New Deal to help people back into work. The site currently receives around 1.5 million visitors each week.

The website is publicised to customers in a variety of ways. Every piece of correspondence to customers on pre-printed letter headed paper shows the Jobcentre Plus website address and many of our computer generated letters—which are usually about specific benefit issues—also give the web address. All of our centrally produced customer information leaflets feature the website address predominantly across the centre of the back cover, and often they also show the website address in the main text. These leaflets are available in all Jobcentre Plus offices and in a variety of our partners' premises, such as Citizens' Advice Bureaux and GPs' surgeries.

 
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As far as specific promotional campaigns are concerned, in January 2004 Jobcentre Plus ran a series of national television advertisements aimed at people looking for work. These were primarily to promote our telephone job finding service, Jobseeker Direct, but also publicised our website as an alternative method for accessing our job search facilities. During 2004 we also distributed a leaflet to over 6.7 million residential households to promote Jobcentre Plus services, including our website.

I hope this is helpful.

New Deal

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of those entering new deal in 2003 were in work at the end of December 2005. [54979]

Margaret Hodge: Of those who entered the new deal in 2003, 39 per cent. were recorded as being in employment on the 31 August 2005, the latest date for which information is available. This percentage is a snapshot of those who joined the programme in 2003 who were in employment on that particular day. A total of 70 per cent. of those entering new deal in 2003 are recorded as gaining employment at some point between joining the programme and the end of August 2005.

Many of those who did not enter employment will have undertaken education and training, or participated in other new deal options like the Environmental Task Force or voluntary sector options, all of which will have improved their job readiness and employability. Only 6 per cent. of those who started the new deal in 2003 were still on the programme at the end of August 2005.
 
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It is inevitable in a dynamic labour market that some people will move into and out of employment after leaving new deal. However, new deal helps people stay in work longer than those in the general labour market and people on the programme have still added to their skills and experience, making it easier for them to find a job in the future.

Note:

Data excludes participants on New Deal for Partners, for which relevant information is not available.

Source: New Deal database and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the latest Government estimate is of the (a) gross and (b) net cost per youth job created by the new deal for young people. [54985]

 
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Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost has been to his Department of each new deal programme in each year since the schemes began. [56970]

Margaret Hodge: The average cost of helping a person into work through all the new deals is £2,102, and the cost of helping a person into work through new deal for young people is £2,770.

The new deal has been successful in helping more than 1.5 million people into work and independent research has shown that the economy as a whole is richer by £500 million a year as a result of new deal for young people alone. Research has also demonstrated that long-term youth unemployment would have been twice as high without new deal for young people.

The information on new deal costs is in the table.
New deal programme costs since 1997

£ million
	New deal for young people	New deal 25 plus	New deal 50 plus	New deal for disabled people	New deal for lone parents	New deal for partners	Total
1997–98	12	0	0	0	0	0	12
1998–99	162	17	0	0	1	0	180
1999–2000	282	71	1	15	12	0	381
2000–01	293	42	45	7	14	1	402
2001–02	219	140	82	4	9	2	456
2002–03	221	166	82	16	18	0	502
2003–04	265	189	42	28	20	0	544
2004–05	264	169	3	65	24	1	526
Total	1,718	794	254	135	98	4	3,003

Notes:
1. Latest confirmed spend figures are to March 2005.
2. Cost per person into work figures are calculated on confirmed spend data to March 2005 and the number of individuals into work to March 2005.
3. Number of people into work through all new deals to March 2005:1,429,000; number of people into work through new deal for young people to March 2005: 620,000.
4. Spend data include all new deal programme costs and allowances paid to participants apart from the 50 plus element of the working tax credit. As this is not included in the figures, new deal 50 plus costs reduce after 2002–03.
5. Spend data exclude administrative costs as it is no longer possible to identify the costs of administering each new deal separately from the costs of other labour market activities.
6. Spend on new deal for partners in 2002–03 and 2003–04 was less than £0.5 million and is thus not recorded as figures are rounded to the nearest £ million.
7. Spend data are rounded to the nearest £ million; the average cost per person into work is rounded to the nearest pound.
8. Start dates for each new deal programme are: new deal for young people: January 1998; new deal 25 plus: July 1998; new deal for lone parents: October 1998; new deal 50 plus: April 2000; new deal for disabled people: July 2001; new deal for partners: April 1999.
9. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Sources:
DWP Financial Strategy Division
DWP Financial Control Division
DWP Information Directorate

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of those who joined the new deal in 2005 was not doing so for the first time. [54988]

Margaret Hodge: Between January and November 2005, 62 per cent. of participants had not been on the new deal programme before and 38 per cent. had. In a dynamic labour market it is inevitable that some individuals who find work through the new deal will become unemployed again at some point in the future and at some stage qualify for the new deal again. It is also the case that some individuals have complex barriers to work and will find it difficult to maintain employment over a long period. However, those people who have participated in the new deal will have added to their skills and experience, making it easier for them to find a job in the future.

Note:

Latest available data.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit claimants have been subject to sanctions for not attending a work-focused interview under the new deal for lone parents (a) once, (b) twice and (c) three times or more in each year since the introduction of the scheme; what the average loss of benefits was in each year; and how many claimants sanctioned subsequently had their benefit reinstated. [57289]

Margaret Hodge: New deal for lone parents is a voluntary programme that aims to help and encourage lone parents to improve their job readiness and employment opportunities, and to gain independence through working. Failure to attend a mandatory work focused interview without good cause can result in a reduction of benefit. However, if the person subsequently participates in the interview then the sanction is lifted.

The available information is in the tables.
 
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Lone parent sanctions for not attending a work focused interview

	Work focused interviews booked	Sanction applied once	Proportion applied once (percentage)	Sanction applied twice
April 2001 to March 2002	155,500	2,500	1.6	100
April 2002 to March 2003	337,300	5,900	1.8	300
April 2003 to March 2004	601,700	13,400	2.2	1,200
April 2004 to March 2005	763,900	28,500	3.7	2,200
April 2005 to December 2005	631,300	22,800	3.6	200
Total	2,489,600	73,100	2.9	4,000

	Proportion applied twice (percentage)	Sanction applied three times or more	Proportion applied three times or more	Average weekly loss of benefit
April 2001 to March 2002	0.06	0	0.003	10.49
April 2002 to March 2003	0.10	100	0.018	10.63
April 2003 to March 2004	0.21	100	0.022	10.58
April 2004 to March 2005	0.28	100	0.015	10.91
April 2005 to December 2005	0.03	0	0.001	11.18
Total	0.16	300	0.012	—

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore the totals may not be a sum of the elements. Percentages are actual percentages calculated on the unrounded figures.
2. Information on the average loss each year of benefit due to a lone parent work focused interview sanction, and how many claimants had their benefit re-instated is not collected.
Source:
National Lone Parent Evaluation database (0512)

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