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13 July 2009 : Column 66Wcontinued
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed at Jobcentre branches in each London borough in each of the last five years. [272832]
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 asking how many staff were employed at Jobcentre branches in each London borough in each of the last five years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The table enclosed shows the number of staff employed in Jobcentre Plus offices by London borough as at March 2008 and March 2009. Information is not available for previous years as our IT records cannot match our Jobcentre sites to local authority boroughs.
The table uses full-time equivalent (FTE) staff figures rather than actual staff numbers, as a proportion of the staff involved are part-time. Substantial recruitment of staff is ongoing across London to enable Jobcentre Plus to maintain its services to its customers.
Full-time equivalent | ||
London borough | March 2008 | March 2009 |
Note: The table shows that in a small number of boroughs, staffing numbers reduced between March 2008 and March 2009. In Merton, where the biggest reduction took place, this was due to the closure of the Wimbledon office. In other cases, reductions were due to the retrenchment of clerical posts and staff and work will also have moved from one office to another, within the same Jobcentre Plus district but across borough boundaries. Source: Jobcentre Plus Dataview. |
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much Jobcentre Plus has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each of the last five years. [276368]
Jim Knight: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the 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 much Jobcentre Plus has spent on hospitality and entertainment in each of the last five years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
All expenditure on entertainment (also known within the Department as hospitality) is made in accordance with published Departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety. These are based on principles set out in Managing Public Money and the Treasury Handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
The information requested is shown in the table below.
£000 | |
(1) Denotes an estimate based on analysis of expenditure for 2003-04. Source: DWP financial systems |
The figures for 2008/09 are not yet available, but will be due for publication later this month.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many vacancies for front-line staff in Jobcentre Plus have been advertised since 1 January 2009; how many have been filled (a) internally from within Jobcentre Plus, (b) from another Government Department or agency and (c) from elsewhere; and for each vacancy that has been filled, what the length of the contract was. [268022]
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 many vacancies for front-line staff in Jobcentre Plus have been advertised since 1 January 2009; how many have been filled internally from within Jobcentre Plus, from another Government Department or agency and from elsewhere; and for each vacancy that has been filled what the length of the contract was. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I can confirm that there were from 1 January 2009 to 29 May 2009 11,856 front-line vacancies advertised across the whole of Jobcentre Plus and that 7,146 posts were filled, broken down as follows:
Internally from within Jobcentre Plus: 481
From other government departments or agencies: 214
From elsewhere: 6,451
For each appointment made within this period, the appointment type and length of the contract is as follows:
Permanent staff: 3,202
Temporary and Fixed Term Appointments: 3,249
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data her Department collects on the living costs of jobseeker's allowance claimants aged (a) 25 years old or more and (b) under 25 years old. [281601]
Jim Knight [holding answer 22 June 2009]: My Department does not collect data on the living costs of jobseeker's allowance claimants.
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what her policy is on jobseeker's allowance claimants accepting offers of short-term casual employment; what guidance her Department issues to Jobcentre Plus staff on the provision of advice to claimants on this matter; and if she will make a statement. [284232]
Jim Knight [holding answer 3 July 2009]: The Government recognise that work is the best way out of poverty and actively encourages customers to take up employment; this includes part-time and casual work.
In order to incentivise the uptake of part-time and casual employment and to make it easier to move back on to benefit, Jobcentre Plus has introduced a rapid reclaim process. This means that where a customer returns to jobseeker's allowance within 26 weeks the claim process is shortened and the return to benefit is simpler and quicker.
Customers can also undertake part-time or casual employment and remain on jobseeker's allowance provided that they work for less than 16 hours per week. For those who work over 16 hours in a job where they expect that work to continue for at least four weeks, working tax credit may be available.
There is no specific guidance for Jobcentre Plus staff in respect of jobseeker's allowance benefit recipients wishing to do part-time or casual employment. However, advisers are fully aware of jobseeker's allowance regulations about part-time work and actively encourage those wishing to undertake part-time or casual work while still assisting them in finding full-time work.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the most recent estimate is of the number of key workers in (a) Tamworth constituency, (b) Staffordshire and (c) the West Midlands. [282486]
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what her most recent estimate is of the number of key workers in (a) Merseyside and (b) Crosby constituency. [283184]
Jim Knight: The information is not available in the form requested as official employment statistics are collected using a standard occupational classification that does not directly match the categories commonly used to determine eligibility for existing local initiatives aimed at key workers.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009, Official Report, column 123W, on local employment partnerships, what the outturn costs of ( a) each of the local award ceremonies and (b) the grand final were. [286627]
Jim Knight: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave on 8 July 2009, Official Report, column 843W.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many national insurance (a) cards and (b) numbers were withdrawn for having been found to have been fraudulently obtained in each of the last five years; [281962]
(2) how many applications for a national insurance card or number were rejected owing to fraudulent documents being used in support of such applications in each of the last five years. [281988]
Jim Knight: The adult National Insurance number allocation process administered by Jobcentre Plus includes stringent verification of identity and right to work checks, which are designed to ensure that National Insurance numbers cannot be fraudulently obtained.
No National Insurance numbers or National Insurance number cards have been withdrawn in the last five years. However, in any case where there is suspicion that a National Insurance number is vulnerable to misuse, such as benefit fraud, the relevant National Insurance number record is annotated accordingly. Any subsequent claim using a National Insurance number would automatically be subjected to close scrutiny and, if appropriate, referred to the Departments Fraud Investigation Service.
The number of National Insurance number accounts marked over the last five years is shown in the following table.
Number of marked accounts | |
Note: Each year runs from 1 April to 31 March. HMRC are responsible for the issue of National Insurance cards. Possession of a card does not provide proof of identity, right to work or proof of entitlement to benefits. National Insurance cards only serve as a reminder to the individual of their National Insurance number and nothing else. National Insurance cards are not withdrawn. Source: Jobcentre Plus. |
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