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26 Nov 2008 : Column 1991W—continued
Jobcentre Plus will offer a Rapid Response Service to all employers declaring 20 or more redundancies. It will also offer support where there are clusters of redundancies which require extra measures to help people find work. It was announced on 12 November that the DWP is doubling the funding for Jobcentre Plus' Rapid Response Service from £3m to £6m for this financial year. Wales will have direct access to the funding.
Through the Rapid Response Service, Jobcentre Plus and Welsh Assembly Government colleagues can help workers with information about other jobs within the labour market, including: matching them to known vacancies; helping them to draw up CVs and improve their job search skills; providing information about how to claim benefits until they do find work; and, with local partners, providing advice on skills and training. We will keep under review the level of take up of the Rapid Response Services, making sure we meet the needs of local business.
Jobcentres
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) jobcentre and (b) Jobcentre Plus offices there are in each (i) region and (ii) parliamentary constituency; and how many of each in each area there were in each year since 1997. [236961]
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.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many (a) Jobcentre and (b) Jobcentre Plus offices there are in each (i) region and (ii) parliamentary constituency; and how many of each in each area there were in each year since 1997. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I am only able to provide information on Jobcentre Plus offices since April 2002, when Jobcentre Plus was created by the merger of the former Employment Service and Benefits Agency, as information on the separate networks operated prior to 2002 is not available. Historical information on which constituencies were serviced by individual Jobcentres is not held. The available information on the Jobcentre Plus customer-facing service delivery network is attached at Annex 1.
Jobcentre Plus inherited around 1,500 offices from the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service. Customers had to attend one office to look for work and then walk to another to deal with changes in their benefit claim. We have modernised our Jobcentre network to improve customer service, rationalising our estate to provide excellent High Street coverage and a single, integrated customer facing office, at the same time reducing cost to the tax payer. We remain the largest office network in Government with 747 modern Jobcentres which are supported by 31 contact centres and 79 main benefit processing centres. This has brought our customer facing services together in a more coherent and integrated network.
Our network is further supplemented by flexible service delivery or outreach options, to provide customer services currently in 146 locations where maintaining a full Jobcentre service is not viable. Such options include for example delivering services from partners' sites or local community premises, delivery using specialised vehicles, and home visits.
In the light of the current economic conditions and the welfare reform changes planned for the next two to three years, I have asked the Customer Service Directors in our regions to review their service delivery plans for every Jobcentre Plus district. This exercise will be completed by early 2009.
Additionally, as an immediate measure, I have decided to suspend 25 proposed Jobcentre closures while the current economic uncertainties exist, which will allow us to increase our capacity to deliver services to those in need of help finding a job.
| Jobcentre Plus offices open to the public: 1 January 2002 to 1 October 2008 | ||||||||
| Region | 1 October 2008 | 1 January 2008 | 1 January 2007 | 1 January 2006 | 1 January 2005 | 1 January 2004 | 1 January 2003 | 1 January 2002 |
| Note: Prior to implementing our network of benefit delivery centres, from April 2006, many sites delivered both customer facing and benefit processing services. | ||||||||
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobcentres there were in each of the last 10 years. [238378]
Mr. McNulty: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. I have asked the Acting Chief Executive, Mel Groves to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many Jobcentres there were in each of the last 10 years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I am only able to provide information on Jobcentres since April 2002, when Jobcentre Plus was created by the merger of the former Employment Service and Benefits Agency, as information on the separate networks operated prior to 2002 is not available. The available information is in the table below.
| Jobcentre Plus Offices open to the Public | |
| Number | |
| Source: Jobcentre Plus | |
From the former Benefits Agency and Employment Service, Jobcentre Plus inherited around 1,500 offices. Often customers would have to walk from one office to the next to look for work then deal with changes in their benefit claim. As we have modernised to improve customer service, we have been able to rationalise this estate to provide excellent high street coverage and reduce cost to the tax payer.
We remain the largest office network in Government.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of people flowing off jobseeker's allowance moved (a) into employment, (b) onto other benefits and (c) to an unknown destination in each year since 1997. [226187]
Mr. McNulty: The total number of people flowing off jobseeker's allowance is decreasing in line with the numbers claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. The percentage of people leaving with an unknown destination recorded has increased over the last 10 years. This is because the completion levels of the JSA40 form (forms filled in by people leaving jobseeker's allowance) have decreased over this period. This should be taken into account when interpreting these statistics, as many of these 'unknown' leavers will have moved into employment.
The available information is in the tables.
| Numbers of people leaving Jobseeker's Allowance by year and destination | |||||
| Employment | Other Benefit | Other reason | Not known or not recorded | Total | |
| (1) January to October. | |||||
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