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12 Jun 2009 : Column 1032W—continued
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many drug treatment places will be provided to support the planned introduction of a treatment allowance. [275547]
Jonathan Shaw: The provision of drug treatment places to support the drugs pilots will be met from within existing allocations.
Jobcentre Plus: Greater London
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) benefit delivery centres and (b) customer-facing jobcentres were operated by Jobcentre Plus in each London borough in each of the last 24 months. [276544]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 20 May 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many (a) benefit delivery centres and (b) customer-facing jobcentres were operated by Jobcentre Plus in each London borough in each of the last 24 months. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I have attached a table which gives a breakdown of current Jobcentres and Benefit Delivery Centres in each London Borough.
With regard to the past 24 months, no offices closed in 2007 or 2008 but three closed during 2009, those at Orpington, Brixton Hill and Feltham.
| London Jobcentre Plus office network by London boroughs | ||
| London borough | Jobcentres | Benefit delivery centres |
Jobcentre Plus: Interviews
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how long on average a jobseeker's interview with a personal adviser (a) for initial assessment, (b) to make a jobseeker's agreement, (c) to sign on and (d) for other purposes lasted in the latest period for which figures are available. [271623]
Jim Knight: 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 right hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how long on average a jobseeker's interview with a personal adviser (a) for initial assessment (b) to make a jobseeker's agreement (c) to sign on and (d) for other purposes lasts. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Everyone making a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) has a one-to-one interview with a personal adviser to assess their circumstances, discuss and set in place a Jobseeker's Agreement and make sure they have information about and access to the help they need. The average length of this interview is 40 minutes, but the actual time taken will vary depending upon individual customer needs.
Following the new jobseeker interview, customers are usually required to attend face-to-face fortnightly jobsearch reviews, the purpose of which is to make sure they are actively seeking work (and therefore entitled to JSA) and to see what help, if any, they need. The average time allocation for these contacts is 7.5 minutes, but the actual time taken will vary depending upon customer needs. Following the new jobseeker interview, many people find work very quickly (about 60% by 13 weeks) and need little, if any, additional help, so jobsearch reviews will involve a limited discussion to make sure people are actively seeking work and making best use of appropriate vacancy sources. Other customers will need more support in which case jobsearch reviews will take longer.
For those people who do not find work quickly, a review is undertaken at or around 13 weeks. The average length of this review is 20 minutes, but the method of delivery and duration of contact will vary, depending upon individual needs. The process usually involves a one to one discussion with an adviser, particularly where the Jobseeker's Agreement needs revising and the customer needs more help to agree how best to increase their chances of finding work, but group sessions may also be used to give general information about access to jobs and services to help improve job prospects. Following the 13-week review process, people continue to receive regular jobsearch reviews, but for a period of six weeks, these are on a weekly (rather than fortnightly) basis.
As part of the recently announced six-month offer, all customers reaching six months unemployment are now allocated a personal adviser who will see them regularly to help prepare and follow through an action plan, which will offer the best chance of leading to a job. The amount of adviser time allocated for the initial interview is 50 minutes, though the time actually taken will vary depending upon individual circumstances and what is decided and agreed will happen next. Following the initial interview, advisers have an average of three hours contact time for each customer, which is used flexibly by advisers to suit individual customer circumstances and needs.
Jobcentre Plus: Redundancy Pay
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much Jobcentre Plus has spent on redundancy payments in each year since it was established; and what proportion of staff costs such expenditure represents in each year. [269046]
Jim Knight: 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 for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your questions asking how much Jobcentre Plus has spent on redundancy payments in each year since it was established and what proportion of staff costs such expenditure represents in each year. This something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive.
The information requested is shown in the following table:
| 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | |
| Source: Jobcentre Plus annual accounts and departmental financial systems. | ||||||
Jobcentre Plus: Standards
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how Jobcentre Plus performed against its (a) job outcome target, (b) monetary value of fraud and error target, (c) employer outcome target, (d) customer service target, (e) business delivery target and (f) average actual clearance time target in each month since each target was introduced. [252980]
Jim Knight: 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 how Jobcentre Plus performed against its (a) job outcome target, (b) monetary value of fraud and error target, (c) employer outcome target, (d) customer service target, (e) business delivery target and (f) average actual clearance time target in each month since each target was introduced. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Business Delivery Target is no longer a Jobcentre Plus target. The available information has been placed in the Library.
Jobcentre Plus: Telephone Services
Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many calls received by the Jobcentre Plus contact centre were (a) answered and (b) not answered (i) in each month of the last two
years and (ii) in each year since 1997; and what the average waiting time for a call to be answered was in each such period; [271684]
(2) how many calls received by the Jobcentre Plus virtual telephony platform were (a) answered and (b) not answered in each (i) month and (ii) year since the platform became operational; and what the average waiting time for a call to be answered was in each such period. [271685]
Jim Knight: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked the Acting Chief Executive to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking how many calls received by the Jobcentre Plus contact centre were (a) answered and (b) not answered (i) in each month of the last two years and (ii) in each year since 1997; and what the average waiting time for a call to be answered was in each such period, and how many calls received by the Jobcentre Plus virtual telephony platform were (a) answered and (b) not answered; and what the average waiting time for a call to be answered was in each such period in each (i) month and (ii) year since the platform became operational. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The tables below provide information on the total number of calls offered to Jobcentre Plus contact centres and the numbers answered and unanswered with average speed of answer where available.
| Monthly totals in each of the last two years | ||||
| Calls offered | Calls answered | Calls not answered | Average speed of answer | |
| Note: Data on average speed of answer are only available since July 2008, following the introduction of virtual telephony platform which enabled this information to be recorded. | ||||
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