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21 July 2009 : Column 1275W—continued
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 980W, on departmental electronic equipment, how much (a) her Department and (b) its agencies have spent on (i) flat screen televisions, (ii) DVD players and (iii) stereo equipment since November 2008. [289192]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not readily available and can be obtained only at disproportionate costs.
Departmental Manpower
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of employees in her Department are (a) women and (b) men; and what the average hourly pay is of the (i) male and (ii) female employees. [288627]
Jim Knight: The DWP workforce as at June 2009 is made up of 68 per cent. female and 32 per cent. male. The DWP pays employees an annual salary and does not use an hourly rate. There are seven grades below the senior civil service (SCS) in DWP. Male and female employees in each grade are paid within the same payscale regardless of their gender. An employee's exact position on their payscale will depend upon their personal pay history.
The most recent DWP Equal Pay Audit published in 2008 shows that the average male and female salaries are £19,911 and £19,085 respectively. This information does not include SCS salaries.
Departmental Official Engagements
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the official engagements of Ministers in her Department were between (a) 1 and 31 March, (b) 1 and 30 April and (c) 1 and 31 May 2009. [279570]
Jim Knight [holding answer 12 June 2009]: I am depositing a table of information in the Library.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department spent on Royal Mail services in each of the last two years. [288741]
Jim Knight: The last two financial years of DWP spending with Royal Mail Group is given in the table.
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Departmental Procurement
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress her Department has made in implementing the recommendations of the Glover Report in its procurement processes. [287146]
Jim Knight: The Department has built the requirements of the Glover Report into its Commercial Strategy and a revised version was published in March 2009. The Strategy expressly recognises the specialist expertise that small enterprises can provide and states that DWP will encourage the use of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in its supply chains. The Strategy has objectives to make it easier for suppliers to compete for contracts and to encourage a diverse supply base, it also commits to monitor the use of these enterprises.
The lead on most of the 12 recommendations of the Glover report is with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The Department fully supports all the recommendations and is actively engaged with OGC to facilitate development and adoption of the new procedures and tools required by Glover. The Department's progress in implementing each of the Glover recommendations is that DWP:
(i) advertises key contracts via electronic media and publishes key contract awards electronically, it is on course to do both these things for all contracts via an OGC public sector online portal by 2010 - addressing Glover recommendations 1,2 and 3;
(ii) already flags tendering opportunities thought especially suitable for SMEs during the advertising process - meeting Glover recommendation 4;
(iii) has adopted standard pre-qualification questionnaires-meeting Glover recommendation 5;
(iv) adopts a principle of competitive neutrality so all relevant experience of all bidders is taken into account when selecting tenderers-meeting Glover recommendation 6;
(v) takes a flexible approach to supplier accreditation, where appropriate allowing businesses to refer to other accreditations they already hold-meeting Glover recommendation 7;
(vi) published its Innovation Procurement Plan on 19th May 2009 which meets the requirements of Glover recommendation 8;
(vii) adopts outcome based specifications requiring continuous improvement as a means of driving innovation-meeting Glover recommendation 9;
(viii) will expect prime contractors to make their sub-contracting opportunities accessible through an on-line portal, when made available by OGC, and that they use contract conditions for their contractors in DWP supply chains that are no worse than those DWP has with the prime contractor-addressing Glover recommendations 10 and 11;
(ix) has, since 2002, reported annually the value of DWP contract spend with SMEs-meeting Glover recommendation 12. The value of DWP contracts with SMEs in 2008/9 was £252 million, about 7 per cent. of total commercial spend in that year.
In summary the Department has made good progress in implementing the Glover recommendations. Its action to date means it has already met seven of the recommendations and, working with OGC, is on course to meet the remaining five recommendations to the set timetable.
Departmental Safety
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much her Department spent on compliance with requirements of health and safety at work legislation in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [274532]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Electronic Government
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken to improve the usability of the Directgov website. [287203]
Jim Knight: In 2009 Directgov conducted a baseline exercise to benchmark the quality of the website and has put in place a plan for improvement, which is now being implemented as part of the overall web rationalisation and convergence programme.
Directgov is in the process of designing a further continuous user improvement programme for the Directgov website which will start in 2009. The programme of user testing will involve both citizen and expert reviews. Each wave of research will review a number of different user journeys across the site to identify any usability issues. This is an on-going project. Each wave will test different journeys with different user groups in order to continually improve the customer experience.
Strategies are being put in place to monitor search engine optimisation, metrics and customer comments to improve the Directgov service by making it easier for people to find what they want.
Directgov recently improved the design of its homepage based on feedback from a representative sample of customers. The new homepage design is structured in a way that allows customers to quickly find essential Government information on topical issues such as swine flu, and allows customers to easily distinguish main navigation links from secondary and peripheral content.
Directgov has also commissioned a project that looks at the future shape of the website. The project is following a user-centred design approach with frequent rounds of user testing to ensure optimal findability and usability of content.
Employment and Support Allowance
Steve Webb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what information her Department holds on the proportion of claimants for employment and
support allowance (ESA) that (a) do not meet work capability assessment qualification criteria for receipt of ESA, (b) meet work capability assessment qualifying criteria for the work related activity group and (c) meet the criteria for the support group, broken down by type of sickness or impairment; and if she will make a statement. [287902]
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many work capability assessments have taken place; and what estimate her Department has made of the number and proportion of customers who have taken the work capability assessment who have been moved onto (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) ESA Work Related Activity Group and (c) ESA Support Group in each month since October 2008. [287934]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 20 July 2009]: Detailed information on the work capability assessment for receipt of employment and support allowance is not available at the present time.
Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit for new claims from 27 October 2008. The latest quarterly data available is November 2008. More comprehensive figures are expected to be available when the February 2009 publication is produced in August 2009.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of incapacity benefit claimants she expects will be migrated to employment and support allowance in each of the next three years. [288620]
Jonathan Shaw: In the White Paper, we set out our intention to migrate incapacity benefit customers to employment and support allowance between 2010 and 2013, using the Work Capability Assessment. We are currently looking closely at the process of migrating customers to employment and support allowance, to plan for implementation and develop a detailed strategy. We will ensure that the transition runs smoothly, fits within our overall programme and that our plans are flexible enough to adapt to changing economic circumstances as necessary.
Employment Schemes
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many people in each region have participated in the (a) Workstep, (b) Work Preparation, (c) Employment Zones, (d) Progress2Work, (e) Work Path and (f) New Deal for (i) 50 plus, (ii) disabled people, (iii) partners and (iii) musicians programme more than once in each relevant year since 2001; [268686]
(2) how many people in each region have participated in the (a) Workstep, (b) Work Preparation, (c) Work Path, (d) Progress2Work and (e) Employment Zones programme in each (i) relevant year since 2001 and (ii) of the last eight quarters; [268687]
(3) how many individuals have been on the (a) Work Trial, (b) Workstep, (c) Work Preparation, (d) Work Path, (e) Progress2Work and (f) Employment Zones
programme more than once in a year by region since their inception. [268689]
Jim Knight: New Deal for Musicians is an integral part of New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 plus. Information on people participating more then once in New Deal for Musicians, New Deal 50 plus, New Deal for Partners and WorkTrial is not collated centrally.
Work Path is not a programme in itself, rather an umbrella name for three employment programmes; Access to Work, Work Preparation and Workstep. As such, the information is not available in the format requested.
Information about Employment Zones is not available by region.
The available information has been placed in the Library.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of 18 to 24 year-olds claiming jobseeker's allowance moving towards 12 months are expected to move on to (a) a job provided by the Future Jobs Fund, (b) support to take an existing job in a key employment sector, (c) a work-focused training place and (d) a place on the community task force as part of the Government's Young Person's Guarantee. [283564]
Jim Knight: We do not forecast unemployment and are therefore unable to predict numbers of take-up for each element of the Young Person's Guarantee.
When the Young Person's Guarantee is introduced early next year, all 18 to 24-year-olds approaching 12 months unemployment on jobseeker's allowance will be guaranteed an offer of either a job under the Future Jobs Fund, support to take a job in a key employment sector, a work focused training place or a place on a community task force.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who will provide assistance in relation to (a) the Future Jobs Fund, (b) support to take an existing job in a key employment sector, (c) work-focused training places and (d) places on a community task force under the Young Person's Guarantee. [283576]
Jim Knight: The fund will be managed centrally by the Department for Work and Pensions. Advisers in every Government office in England are available to support potential bidders with the process.
In Scotland and Wales, Jobcentre Plus will provide support to potential bidders, in consultation with the devolved Administrations and the Scottish and Welsh Offices.
Jobcentre Plus will play a key role in identifying customer needs and referring customers to the full range of support on offer. For the training element, young people will also be able to go direct to a provider, Nextstep or the Careers Advice Service.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what recent estimate she has made of the average cost per participant in (a) the Future Jobs Fund, (b) the Community Task Force, (c) training under the Young Person's Guarantee and (d) support to obtain an existing job in a key employment sector; [286739]
(2) what recent estimate she has made of (a) the likely average cost per participant of the Young Persons' Guarantee in 2009-10, (b) the number of young people aged between 18 and 24 years old likely to participate in the Young Persons' Guarantee in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12 and (c) the cost of the Young Persons' Guarantee in the next three years; [286740]
(3) what estimate she has made of the cost of (a) the Community Task Force and (b) additional training places provided under the Young Persons' Guarantee in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12. [286754]
Jim Knight: The estimated average costs are commercially sensitive but will be met within the allocated budget for the Young Person's Guarantee.
The Government do not publish unemployment forecasts. We will, however, meet the terms of the Young Person's Guarantee and all 18 to 24-year-olds will receive an offer of employment, training or community work.
Funding has not been allocated beyond 2010-11.
Funding for the Community Task Force and the Work-Focused Training was announced as part of the Budget settlement for the Young Person's Guarantee funding. The budget for the Young Person's Guarantee is approximately £1.1 billion over 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The budget for the training element of the Young Person's Guarantee is £122 million over 2009-11.
We are unable to estimate the cost of the Community Task Force element as expenditure will depend on the demand for the programme.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how Jobcentre Plus plans to inform 18 to 24-year-old jobseekers of the job guarantee scheme announced on 22 April 2009; and if she will make a statement. [288753]
Jim Knight: All Jobcentre Plus advisers will be made aware of the jobs and training opportunities created by the Young Persons Guarantee in their area. Jobcentre Plus staff will ensure that all eligible customers are made aware of the relevant opportunities. This will be an integral part of the ongoing support given to customers to find work.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by what means 18 to 24-year-olds who have been unemployed for over 12 months at the time of the introduction of the job guarantee announced on 22 April 2009 will be given access to the scheme; what priority will be accorded to them in relation to 18 to 24-year-olds who become unemployed for over 12 months after the introduction of the scheme; and if she will make a statement. [288754]
Jim Knight: Customers who are already in long-term unemployment need intensive support and this is best delivered out with the Young Person's Guarantee. When the guarantee is introduced young people who have been unemployed for 12 months or more will already be receiving this support through either the Flexible New Deal or other existing programmes.
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