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24 Nov 2008 : Column 1005W—continued

Remploy

Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people formerly employed in Remploy factories which have been closed down in the last two years have found new jobs; and if he will make a statement. [238669]

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Jonathan Shaw: The current position concerning the 234 former Remploy disabled factory employees who opted to remain with Remploy is shown in the following table:

Former Remploy disabled factory employees who opted to remain with Remploy
	Number
Permanent job	40
Job placements, which may lead to a permanent job	131
Job ready. Waiting to be placed by Remploy on a secure job placement	16
Undertaking development activity to help them become job ready	17
Undergoing occupational health assessments or re-assessments	30

A further 1,784 employees opted to take voluntary redundancy or early retirement with a voluntary redundancy payment. Remploy has written out to all employees who opted to take voluntary redundancy or early retirement to offer Remploy support if they wished to return to work. So far 153 of its former employees have used Remploy's services to find new employment and have obtained jobs.

Remploy has continued to offer support to other former employees. The remainder have not currently accepted the company's help to find alternative work or have advised Remploy they do not wish to return to work.

Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Remploy factories are operating; and how many people are employed in each factory. [238671]

Jonathan Shaw: Remploy operates 54 factories employing 2,987 people. The number of people currently employed in each factory is shown in the table.

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Site	Number of disabled people employed	Number of non-disabled employed	Total number of employees
Aberdare	49	2	51
Aberdeen	27	1	28
Abertillery	39	0	39
Acton	37	5	42
Ashington	33	5	38
Barking	75	18	93
Barrow	34	1	35
Birkenhead	40	1	41
Birmingham	84	13	97
Blackburn	49	3	52
Bolton	56	5	61
Bridgend	66	3	69
Bristol	44	1	45
Burnley	44	2	46
Chesterfield	67	5	72
Cleator Moor	23	2	25
Clydebank	54	31	85
Coventry	96	14	110
Cowdenbeath	48	4	52
Croespenmaen	52	2	54
Derby	36	8	44
Dundee	50	9	59
Edinburgh	36	2	38
Gateshead	20	1	21
Huddersfield	34	5	39
Leeds	68	1	69
Leicester	20	2	22
Leven	35	2	37
Manchester	23	3	26
Merythr Tydfil	47	2	49
Motherwell	27	4	31
Neath	74	3	77
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	87	4	91
North London	26	2	28
North Staffs	130	11	141
Norwich	41	21	62
Oldham	131	26	157
Penzance	45	0	45
Pontefract	39	2	41
Poole	19	0	19
Porth	99	4	103
Portsmouth	23	6	29
Preston	30	1	31
Radcliffe	51	7	58
Sheffield	123	9	132
Southampton	30	3	33
Spennymoor	43	0	43
Springburn	56	8	64
Stirling	43	3	46
Sunderland	48	0	48
Swansea	58	5	63
Wigan	39	1	40
Worksop	12	0	12
Wrexham	52	2	54
Source: Remploy

Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on demand for child care services and on the availability of child care services of the Social Security (Lone Parents and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008; what steps he has taken to assess the adequacy of the availability of services; and if he will make a statement. [234625]

Kitty Ussher: We will be monitoring the effect of the lone parent changes on demand for child care services as the policy is implemented.

We can, however, state that the availability of child care places has improved significantly. The stock of registered child care is now approaching 1.3 million places, more than double the 1997 level, representing an increase of well over 17 per cent. or 194,000 places, since March 2004.

The Childcare Act 2006 places a legal duty on local authorities in England and Wales to secure, as far as practicable, sufficient childcare to meet the needs of working parents, in particular for those on low incomes
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and with disabled children. The position in Wales is slightly different in that the duty is an enabling power which the Welsh Assembly Government has the option of enacting. We have a published commitment that by 2010 there will be a child care place for all children in England aged between 3 and 14 years old, between the hours of 8am to 6pm each weekday.

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