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30 Mar 2009 : Column 904W—continued
Vacancies
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of vacancies were advertised in job centres in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. [263735]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 16 March 2009]: We do not have a recent estimate of the proportion of vacancies in the UK economy advertised at Jobcentre Plus. There have been some one-off surveys that have estimated the Jobcentre Plus share of all vacancies. In 2002, ONS used one such survey to estimate the proportion of total vacancies advertised at Jobcentres at 44 per cent. Allowing for sampling variation, the ratio was likely to be in the range of around a third to a half. However, this estimate is likely to have changed over time.
The following tables show the number of live unfilled Jobcentre Plus vacancies in Great Britain in each of the last 12 months, and the number of unfilled vacancies in the economy according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Vacancy Survey. Both measures are snap-shots of the number of opportunities available at a particular point in time and do not reflect the dynamism of the labour market that sees thousands of new job vacancies come up every day.
The data from Jobcentre Plus and the ONS Vacancy Survey are not directly comparable, and so should not be used together to produce such an estimate. The Vacancy Survey is a sample based survey of businesses in the UK and is seasonally adjusted, whereas the Jobcentre Plus data are administrative data that are subject to a high level of seasonality. In addition, there are coverage issues, with the Vacancy Survey covering only civilian vacancies and excluding Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, whereas the Jobcentre Plus data include non-civilian vacancies.
| Number of job vacancies in Great Britain advertised by Jobcentre Plus in each of the last 12 months | |
| Live unfilled vacancies | |
| Notes: 1. Data are unrounded, and not seasonally adjusted. 2. The Jobcentre Plus data do not cover the whole UK economy. Coverage relates just to vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and as such represent a market share of vacancies throughout the whole economy. This proportion varies over time, according to the occupation of the vacancy and industry of the employer, and by local area. Comprehensive estimates of all job vacancies (not just those notified to Jobcentre Plus) are available from the monthly ONS Vacancy Survey since April 2001, based on a sample of some 6,000 enterprises. However, the ONS survey is currently designed to provide national estimates only. 3. The stocks of live unfilled vacancies reflect more accurately job opportunities available via Jobcentre Plus. In the case of unfilled vacancies, use of the figures on live vacancies is recommended (i.e. excluding suspended vacancies), and this is the default option. Live vacancies may still include some vacancies which have already been filled or are otherwise no longer open to recruits, due to natural lags in procedures for following up vacancies with employers. 4. Jobcentre Plus figures are published at: www.nomisweb.co.uk Source: Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System. | |
| Office for National Statistics UK Vacancy Survey | |
| Level of vacancies (Three-month rolling average estimates) | |
| Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest 1,000, and are seasonally adjusted three-month averages. 2. Excludes Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing. 3. November, December and January data on the ONS monthly vacancies estimate have been revised and February data are provisional. 4. ONS monthly vacancies estimates published at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/LatestData.xls Source: Office for National Statistics Vacancy Survey. | |
Vacancies: Eastbourne
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average number of job vacancies in Eastbourne constituency was in each of the last 12 months. [267282]
Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average number of job vacancies in Eastbourne constituency was in each of the last 12 months. (267282)
The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of vacancies from the Vacancy Survey, however estimates below UK are not available from this source.
An alternative source of information on job vacancies is administrative data from Jobcentre Plus. This data only includes job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and consequently is inconsistent with the UK estimates from the Vacancy Survey, however geographical breakdowns of this data are available.
Table 1 attached, shows the number of live unfilled job vacancies held by Jobcentre Plus for Eastbourne parliamentary constituency for each month from March 2008 to February 2009. Figures from Jobcentre Plus for Great Britain, along with three month averages for the UK from the Vacancy Survey have also been included for comparison.
| Table 1: Number of job vacancies( 1) in Eastbourne parliamentary constituency, Great Britain and UK | ||
| Not seasonally adjusted | ||
| Eastbourne | Great Britain | |
| (1 )Job Vacancies for Eastbourne and Great Britain are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data. These are inconsistent with the UK figures from the ONS Vacancy Survey. Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative Data. | ||
| Seasonally adjusted | |
| UK | |
| Source: Vacancy Survey, ONS. | |
Vocational Training: Jobcentre Plus
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of the training courses to which Jobcentre Plus offers access lead to a certified qualification. [262340]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not collated centrally.
Workstep
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the percentage of funding under the relevant contract which has been spent on administration by (a) prime contractors on the Pathways to Work programme and (b) disabled charity providers under Workstep. [261784]
Jonathan Shaw: 30 per cent. of the Pathways contract funding is paid in the form of a service fee. Information is not available about how much of this is used for administration costs, since we have given Pathways and Workstep providers freedom to design their own approaches to best meeting customers’ needs.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Borrowing: Advisory Services
Mr. Hands: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much was spent on establishing the Stop Loan Sharks (a) telephone line, (b) website and (c) text service; and what estimate he has made of the number of people who have used each service since establishment. [265591]
Mr. Thomas: The amount spent on establishing the Stop Loan Sharks is as follows:
(a) Telephone line—The telephone number cost £200 to install and £10 per month line rental to keep the number live. The easily recognisable number itself was free. The geographical set up was free.
(b) Website—Development of the website design cost approximately £6,000. The stop loan sharks email is free. There were no direct costs to BERR from Directgov to produce the website.
(c) Text service—The text service is £260 per year. The cost is approximately £100 per year for texts the teams send using this service. We get about five per week on average of which one or two are excellent leads.
In the first 24 hours of the launch on 3 March 2009, 125 calls from around the country and two texts were received. It is estimated that hundreds of people have called the hotline since its launch in the main for debt advice. The Stop Loan Sharks Directgov site has received 1,510 visitors since the launch.
China: Exhibitions
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what funding his Department is making available to businesses wishing to be part of the British pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010. [263504]
Mr. Thomas: BERR is not making money available specifically for companies to participate in the British Pavilion at Shanghai Expo. However as part of the regular support for business provided by UKTI, British companies will be able to access funds to participate in sectorally-specific missions or Market Visits organised by UKTI in the regions.
Debt Collection
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will take steps to ensure that debt collection procedures by banks, other financial institutions and their agents adhere to Office of Fair Trading guidelines on proportionality and on reasonableness; and if he will make a statement. [264235]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 23 March 2009]: Under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, if a business wishes to be involved in consumer lending or related credit activities, including the collection of third party consumer debts, it must have a consumer credit licence. The Office of Fair Trading considers the fitness of businesses who apply for a licence and continues to monitor the fitness and conduct of those who are licensed.
The Office of Fair Trading debt collection guidance sets out the type of behaviour it considers to fall within the category of unfair business practices which will call into question fitness to be given or retain a consumer credit licence. The guidance applies to all consumer credit licence holders including lenders and debt collectors. It also makes clear that if consumer credit licence holders do business with third parties engaged in unfair business practices, then their own fitness will be called into question.
The Office of Fair Trading would consider any evidence it receives of consumer credit licence holders failing to adhere to its guidance and has a range of measures that can be applied against such businesses up to and including revocation of the licence. However, any action taken needs to be both evidence based and proportionate to the identified misconduct.
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