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26 Nov 2008 : Column 1994W—continued


Percentage distribution by destination of all people leaving Jobseeker's Allowance

Employment Other Benefit Other reason Not known or not recorded

1998

54.7

8.2

11.9

25.2

1999

52.1

7.8

13.0

27.1

2000

50.6

7.8

13.2

28.4

2001

50.0

7.7

12.2

30.1

2002

47.4

7.3

13.4

31.9

2003

45.8

7.4

13.8

33.0

2004

43.8

7.3

14.0

34.9

2005

41.2

7.3

13.4

38.1

2006

38.8

7.3

12.8

41.1

2007

36.5

7.6

14.2

41.7

2008(1)

35.2

7.2

15.2

42.4

(1) January to October.

26 Nov 2008 : Column 1995W

Percentage distribution by destination of people leaving Jobseeker's Allowance to known destinations

Employment Other benefit Other

1998

73.1

10.9

15.9

1999

71.5

10.6

17.8

2000

70.6

10.9

18.5

2001

71.5

11.0

17.5

2002

69.6

10.8

19.6

2003

68.4

11.0

20.6

2004

67.3

11.3

21.5

2005

66.6

11.8

21.7

2006

65.8

12.4

21.7

2007

62.6

13.0

24.4

2008(1)

61.2

12.4

26.4

(1) January to October.
N otes:
1. Figures are for Great Britain and are rounded to the nearest 5.
2. The percentage of claimant off-flows with no destination recorded has increased over the last 10 years, which should be taken into account when interpreting these statistics.
3. This information is published on the Nomis website at www.nomisweb.co.uk
Source:
Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (computer held cases only).

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of new jobseeker's allowance claimants who will move onto the benefit as a result of (i) losing employment, (ii) moving off income support, (iii) failing a work capability assessment and (iv) other reasons in each of the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [233253]

Mr. McNulty: Updated planning assumptions were published at the pre-Budget report.

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK EU citizens who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance while resident in another EU member state; what discussions he has had with other EU member states about the payment of jobseeker's allowance to non-UK EU citizens who are resident in such states; and if he will make a statement. [234432]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 10 November 2008]: It is not possible to estimate the number of non-UK EU citizens who are in receipt of contribution based jobseeker's allowance while resident in another EU member state. Contribution-based jobseeker's allowance is only payable abroad for up to three months. From the available information it is not possible to differentiate between UK EU citizens and non-UK EU citizens.

The UK contribution based jobseeker's allowance is payable by the foreign Employment Services only if the jobseeker remains unemployed, continues to register as a person seeking work and continues to comply with the control procedures in the country where they are seeking work.

Modernisation of the EU social security regulations coordinating unemployment benefits was discussed at the December 2007 EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Brussels.

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker’s allowance claimants there were in (a) the UK and (b) Wellingborough constituency on the latest date for which figures are available. [238334]


26 Nov 2008 : Column 1996W

Mr. McNulty: In October 2008 there were 980,900 jobseeker’s allowance claimants in the UK, with 1,730 in Wellingborough parliamentary constituency.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of jobseeker's allowance claimants moved off JSA and into employment in each month of the last five years, broken down by age; and if he will make a statement. [239310]

Mr. McNulty: The information has been placed in the Library.

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker’s allowance claimants were enrolled in an outsourced skills training and support programme to which they had been referred by Jobcentre Plus in each month of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by the smallest geographical area for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [239311]

Mr. McNulty: The information is not collected centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed jobseekers' allowance between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008; and how much was spent on jobseekers' allowance claims in that period. [238793]

Mr. McNulty: The available information on the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance each month in 2007-08 is in the table.

Jobseeker's allowance claimant count—seasonally adjusted

Great Britain

March 2007

879,500

April 2007

863,500

May 2007

852,600

June 2007

839,000

July 2007

830,200

August 2007

825,200

September 2007

811,700

October 2007

802,600

November 2007

790,900

December 2007

784,000

January 2008

771,200

February 2008

771,600

March 2008

775,000

April 2008

785,800

Notes:
1. Data have been rounded to the nearest 100. Figures are a monthly snapshot and cannot be added together to give an annual total.
2. Expenditure for jobseeker's allowance in 2007-08 was £2,210 million.
3. The figure is for Great Britain and is in cash terms. It does not include any administration costs related to the processing of jobseeker's allowance claims.
Sources:
100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems.
DWP accounting data.

26 Nov 2008 : Column 1997W

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what information his Department holds on the amount of time each jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimant has received JSA in the last (a) two and (b) five years; [236860]

(2) what data his Department holds in respect of repeat jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants on (a) the periods between different claims, (b) whether a claimant finds employment between different claims of JSA and (c) when people spent time on the New Deal Training Allowance between claims. [236868]

Mr. McNulty: The source of much of the published data on benefit claims is the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS). It links benefit and programme information from administrative datasets held by DWP on its customers with employment records from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and is used within the Department in a wide range of projects for example research, policy evaluation, modelling and forecasting, and in the Job Outcome Target to measure how many people JobCentre Plus have helped into work. Further details on WPLS and its uses are published at

The amount and quality of information held on the WPLS varies by benefit group; the datasets themselves are complex, and can be complicated to analyse and quality assure. Where quality assurance has been carried out to National Statistics standards, statistics from the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study are published on the Department's website via the Tabulation Tool (www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/tabtool.asp) and the Nomis website, the Office for National Statistics website of official labour market statistics (www.nomisweb.co.uk), both of which allow users to construct their own tables.

The preferred source of information on JSA claimants is the monthly claimant count which is published on Nomis. This includes a breakdown of destination for claimants leaving JSA, but this information is incomplete and should be treated with caution. The percentage of claimant off-flows with no destination recorded has increased over the last 10 years, which should be taken into account when interpreting these statistics. For example, 25 per cent. of off-flows in December 1998 had no destination recorded, compared to 38 per cent. of off-flows in December 2007.

Statistics on new deal are published on the Tabulation Tool, including information on immediate destination on leaving, whether employment, benefits or other destinations.

Work is continuously ongoing to improve the range of published information.

The published data does not include information on the amount of time each jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimant has received JSA in the last (a) two and (b) five years; or, in respect of repeat jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants, on (a) the periods between different claims, (b) whether a claimant finds employment between different claims of JSA and (c) when people spent time on the new deal training allowance between claims. It could be obtained only after a complex analysis of the available data and a comprehensive assurance process to ensure that the data was correct. As a result it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


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