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Tax Allowances: Pensioners

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in (a) Leeds West constituency, (b) Leeds Metropolitan District and (c) the UK are receiving the 25 pence age allowance. [220713]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The available information is in the following table.

State pension claimants getting age addition as at September 2007
	Number
Leeds West Parliamentary constituency	3,400
Leeds Local Authority Area	30,000
Great Britain	2,608,700
Notes: 1. Data is taken from 5 per cent. extracts of the Pensions Strategy Computer System, therefore figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. They are also adjusted to be consistent with the overall caseload from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 100. 3. Local authorities are allocated using the Office for National Statistics postcode directory.

Unemployment

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what capacity his Department has to react quickly in the event of a rapid increase in unemployment in a particular economic sub-region. [230616]

Mr. McNulty: Jobcentre Plus offers a proactive service which can respond flexibly to increases in unemployment in a particular area. For example, when Jobcentre Plus is notified of an upcoming redundancy situation in a particular locality, it makes contact with the employer to find out more about the scale and timing of the redundancies and to offer support relevant to the employer’s and employee’s needs. A range of support can be provided including information about alternative jobs and how best to source them; matching employees to current vacancies; offering on-site job shops and fairs; helping people draw-up CVs and brush-up their jobsearch skills; providing information about in and out of work benefits/tax credits; and facilitating the process of taking jobseeker’s allowance claims where this is needed.

Jobcentre Plus works with partners such as the Learning and Skills Council, Skills Development Scotland, and the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (Wales), local development agencies and business organisations to ensure a co-ordinated response. Where a redundancy situation is particularly large relative to the size of the local labour market, additional rapid response funding is available, alongside funding from partner organisations, to provide additional help such
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as an individual skills analysis to help identify transferable skills and gaps; job-focused training to help individuals develop vocational skills; and an action fund to overcome individual barriers to work.

Many people who experience redundancy find alternative work quickly, but individuals who need to make a claim for jobseeker’s allowance are provided with support to help them maintain their attachment to the labour market and look for work effectively. Most jobseeker’s allowance claimants find another job quickly—over half of people making a new claim leave jobseeker’s allowance within three months and three quarters within six months. In addition to mainstream services and programmes, specialist support is also available including help with literacy, numeracy or language skills through the Learning and Skills Council’s Employment Skills Programme; access to programme centres which provide help with jobsearch skills, confidence and motivation and ‘soft’ skills associated with the world of work; and fast-tracking to the new deal for those that need it.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to monitor rapid fluctuations in unemployment levels on a (a) national and (b) regional level. [230617]

Mr. McNulty: Information on unemployment at national and regional level is published monthly by the Office for National Statistics. Latest figures show that in the most recent period unemployment has risen nationally on both the ILO and claimant measures and the trends at regional level have been broadly similar.

Unemployment Benefits: Interviews

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many work-focused interviews have been conducted in each month since their introduction, broken down by region. [231470]

Mr. McNulty: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Mel Groves:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many work focused interviews have been conducted in each month since their introduction, broken down by region. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.

We are unable to provide information prior to April 2006. The tables in the annex provide the total number of Work Focused Interviews that have taken place monthly since April 2006, by region.

Annex :

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Jobcentre plus—Incapacity benefit/Lone parent WFIs
Periods	East of England	East Midlands	London	North East	North West	Scotland	South East	South West	Wales	West Midlands	Yorks and Humber
April 2006	7,638	6,511	14,118	5,693	12,520	9,517	8,230	6,091	5,300	7,117	8,137
May 2006	9,066	8,209	15,661	6,774	16,885	12,865	10,066	7,904	6,747	8,714	10,366
June 2006	11,851	10,743	21,340	9,225	21,175	15,769	13,267	10,675	9,018	11,584	13,522
July 2006	9,047	8,142	16,834	7,291	16,750	11,885	9,570	8,609	7,424	9,075	10,973
August 2006	10,580	9,548	19,583	8,803	20,406	17,008	11,530	9,671	8,604	10,951	13,388
September 2006	9,767	9,054	19,000	7,978	18,899	12,624	10,992	8,300	7,991	10,416	11,607
October 2006	9,557	9,157	18,533	7,812	18,500	13,495	9,888	8,170	8,016	10,197	11,456
November 2006	12,740	11,734	24,481	9,837	24,961	17,491	13,862	10,795	10,332	13,587	14,471
December 2006	6,956	6,589	12,059	5,773	13,908	9,380	7,257	5,958	5,952	7,314	8,421
January 2007	11,739	10,580	20,109	10,115	22,414	16,957	12,219	9,896	10,008	11,673	13,214
February 2007	10,657	9,430	19,310	8,866	20,944	15,356	11,321	9,129	9,061	10,991	12,535
March 2007	13,019	11,426	25,852	10,933	26,819	19,650	14,754	11,470	11,486	14,663	14,995
April 2007	9,923	8,737	20,223	8,778	20,792	14,700	11,067	8,168	9,026	11,633	11,572
May 2007	12,796	11,304	25,602	10,500	26,642	20,788	14,315	10,749	11,429	14,117	14,275
June 2007	10,585	9,998	23,674	9,613	23,901	17,172	12,861	9,818	10,302	13,265	12,842
July 2007	10,491	9,681	22,193	9,682	23,328	16,018	12,790	9,654	10,416	12,751	12,953
August 2007	12,438	11,410	24,673	12,166	28,029	22,129	13,982	11,170	12,670	15,481	15,499
September 2007	11,041	9,981	23,910	10,999	24,669	16,000	13,341	9,915	10,999	13,269	14,019
October 2007	10,551	9,277	21,187	10,692	22,959	16,209	11,839	8,882	10,725	12,738	13,551
November 2007	13,858	12,431	26,867	13,416	29,045	20,352	15,591	11,411	12,647	16,296	16,707
December 2007	7,773	6,759	14,866	7,633	16,711	12,023	8,544	6,521	7,189	9,329	9,957
January 2008	16,679	14,748	32,001	16,474	35,270	26,055	19,018	13,872	15,102	19,500	20,274
February 2008	11,575	10,349	21,235	12,130	24,490	17,228	12,669	9,553	10,932	13,821	14,476
March 2008	9,446	9,042	20,055	10,504	20,419	15,323	11,890	8,653	9,055	11,499	11,618
April 2008	7,345	5,755	17,403	5,223	13,024	8,007	9,038	6,064	5,629	10,008	8,750
May 2008	8,459	7,248	23,252	6,688	15,348	11,070	11,778	7,617	6,259	10,692	10,113
June 2008	7,817	6,697	21,236	5,850	14,562	10,014	11,061	6,553	6,015	10,430	9,571
July 2008	10,260	8,751	25,425	7,779	18,446	11,988	13,782	8,830	7,416	12,383	12,369
August 2008	7,486	6,682	19,077	5,778	14,705	11,067	10,206	6,891	5,707	9,958	8,772
September 2008	9,058	7,670	23,706	6,823	16,070	9,691	12,658	7,685	6,114	11,406	10,706
Total	310,199	277,643	633,465	269,828	622,590	447,831	359,387	268,673	267,572	354,858	371,108
Notes: 1. The table includes all incapacity benefit and lone parent work focused interviews conducted between April 2006 and September 2008 (latest available data) broken down by month and Region. 2. There was a database prior to April 2006 called the Activity Based Information database (ABI). However, this database only included limited information on adviser interviews. For 2003/04 and 2004/05 only new deal appointments were included. In 2005/06 more advisory appointments were included. However they were not as comprehensive and wide ranging as the ABM data. Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management (ABM) database.

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