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4 Nov 2009 : Column 1080W—continued
| Number of households receiving council tax benefit by English region and country: November 2008 to May 2009 | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| November | December | January | February | March | April | May | |
| Notes: 1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 5. Council tax benefit figures exclude second adult rebates. 6. Please visit: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/Methodology_revision_webpage.pdf for an understanding of improvements in methodology for housing benefit/council tax benefit caseload National Statistics. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) | |||||||
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will consider the merits of securing accreditation of her Department's helplines to the Helplines Association's quality standard; and if she will make a statement. [295717]
Jim Knight: Jobcentre Plus contact centre directorate, and contact centres within Pensions, Disability and Carers Service have all received accreditation through the Customer Contact Association (CCA).
DWP took the decision to use the CCA for its external accreditation as it is the professional body for the call and contact centre industry. The CCA membership reflects the highest standards of staff care and customer service and is seen as an independent organisation with over 600 public and private sector members. It also promotes best practice and professional development through a wide range of benefits and services.
Over and above complying with the recommendations set out by Sir David Varney (in his "Service transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for taxpayers", published in December 2006), accreditation to the CCA standard enables DWP to deliver higher standards of customer service and greater operational efficiency by achieving consistent, standard operational processes in all its contact centres.
Employment and Support Allowance: Bedfordshire
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of Mid-Bedfordshire constituency have (a) applied for and (b) been refused employment and support allowance since October 2008. [295419]
Jim Knight: The information is not available.
Employment Schemes: Young People
Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps she is taking to ensure that under 25 year olds in Norwich North constituency are provided with an employment or training opportunity within one year of becoming unemployed. [296157]
Jim Knight:
The Government have increased support for young people from day one of jobseeker's allowance claims. From early 2010, the Young Persons Guarantee
will ensure that, before 12 months on jobseeker's allowance, all 18 to 24-year-olds will be guaranteed a job, training or meaningful activity.
The Future Jobs Fund, part of the Young Persons Guarantee announced in the Budget, will create new jobs for the long-term unemployed, particularly young adults and those in unemployment hotspots. This initiative will create 150,000 jobs, of which 100,000 will be targeted at young adults who will be eligible for jobs from the fund in their tenth month of unemployment, and 50,000 will be focused on unemployment hotspots. Jobs in the latter are available to all of the long-term unemployed irrespective of their age.
There are no specific bids for Norwich, North. The bid for Norfolk county council is currently creating 356 jobs between October 2009 and March 2010, which includes jobs in Norwich (as the first round of awards are initially for delivery over a six month period). National bids may also create jobs in this area.
Future Jobs Fund
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much of the Future Jobs Fund has been allocated to bids in (a) Basingstoke, (b) Hampshire and (c) England in 2009-10. [296419]
Jim Knight [holding answer 29 October 2009]: It is not possible to state how much of the Future Jobs Fund has been allocated to bids in Basingstoke, Hampshire and England. This information is commercially sensitive.
There are no specific bids for Basingstoke. The bid for Hampshire county council is currently creating 398 jobs between October 2009 and March 2010, which includes jobs in Basingstoke (as the first round of awards are initially for delivery over a six-month period). National bids may also create jobs in this area.
The £1 billion Future Jobs Fund will create 150,000 jobs. To date, around 60,000 jobs have already been approved and the first jobs have actually started.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of the Future Jobs Fund has been allocated to the creation of 50,000 jobs in unemployment hotspots; what criteria her Department uses to define an unemployment hotspot; and what the eligibility criteria for applications for such posts are. [295282]
Jim Knight: The proportion of jobs in each bid targeted at those living in areas of high unemployment will be negotiated with successful bidders, during the Grant Award period. Therefore, complete information is not available at this time.
Unemployment hotspots are defined as areas of high unemployment, where the rate of claimant unemployment is at least 1.5 percentage points above the national average. Our assumption is that approximately one-third of the £1 billion will be allocated to hotspot areas.
Jobs in areas of high unemployment will not be restricted to 18-24 year olds approaching the 10 month point of their Jobseeker's Allowance claim. Customers claiming other out of work benefits for at least 39 weeks and living in the specified area will be eligible to apply for these jobs.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated cost per job was of each successful bid proposal under the Future Jobs Fund. [297347]
Jim Knight: As the number of jobs being created and costs vary between bids, the average unit cost per job will change with each funding round. The estimated average cost is expected to be between £6,300 to £6,500 per job over the life of the fund.
Future Jobs Fund: Scotland
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobs she expects to be created under the Future Jobs Fund in (a) Scotland, (b) the Highlands and (c) Inverness in the next 12 months; and what categories of job she expects to be created. [296833]
Jim Knight: The Future Jobs Fund is creating 150,000 jobs across the UK, depending on the quality of the bids received. There is no specific allocation of numbers to Scotland, the Highlands or Inverness. In total 3,359 jobs have been funded for the six months from October 2009 to March 2010 in Scotland. The first round of awards is initially for delivery over a six month period. Of these, 1,452 jobs will be created by the bids from SCVO, Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Salvation Army and may include jobs in the Highlands and Inverness. However, it is not yet possible to specify job numbers in individual areas. The bidding process is ongoing and in the future we may receive other bids to create jobs in these regions.
The types of jobs being created are: warehouse assistants; stores and workshop assistants; drivers; retail and sales assistants; furniture assembly and production; conservation; landscaping; footpath construction; residential; and, family and day care assistants.
Housing Benefit
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) original estimate of expenditure on and (b) actual expenditure on local housing allowance was in each financial year since its introduction. [293971]
Helen Goodman: Out-turn data for 2008-09 will be published shortly after the pre-Budget report.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much expenditure from allowing claimants to receive more in local housing allowance than they have to pay in rent the Government (a) has incurred in each year since the introduction of the allowance and (b) is expected to incur in 2009-10. [294059]
Helen Goodman: The local housing allowance was rolled out nationally to new claims and to those who move address from 7 April 2008.
The Department has aggregate expenditure information for 2008-09 on local housing allowance so cannot give the actual value of expenditure incurred from allowing claimants to receive more in local housing allowance than they have to pay in rent.
The table shows the current estimate of the additional expenditure which may have been incurred in 2008-09 and is expected to occur in 2009-10.
| Estimated cost of allowing claimants to receive more in local housing allowance than they have to pay in rent | |
| £ million | |
| Source: Budget 2009 estimates | |
It is important to note that these estimates are subject to a number of assumptions and estimates are sensitive to small changes in these assumptions.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of local housing allowance claimants had their allowance paid directly to their (a) social and (b) private landlord in each quarter since the allowance was introduced. [296838]
Helen Goodman [holding answer 2 November 2009]: This information is not available.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals received local housing allowance in England in each quarter since the allowance was introduced. [296926]
Helen Goodman [holding answer 2 November 2009]: The available information is in the table.
| Number of recipients of local housing allowance: England, November 2008 to May 2009 | |
| Local housing allowance tenants | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 3. Recipients are as at second Thursday of the month. 4. LHA does not include recipients with unknown tenure type. 5. Local housing allowance tenants may include a small number of non-LHA cases making a new claim since 6 April 2008. This will include recipients in caravan accommodation. 6. Please visit http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/Methodology_revision_webpage.pdf for an understanding of improvements in methodology for housing benefit/council tax benefit case load National Statistics. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) | |
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