| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Jan 2010 : Column 60W—continued
Jobcentre Plus
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all employers offering jobs to be advertised through Jobcentre Plus are asked whether the job can be offered on a flexible, part-time or jobshare basis. [309978]
Jim Knight [holding answer 11 January 2010]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. 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 reply to your question whether all employers offering jobs to be advertised through Jobcentre Plus are asked whether the job can be offered on a flexible, part-time or jobshare basis. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus always asks for details about the hours that are required, including any relevant terms and conditions, though employers are not routinely asked whether the job can be offered on a flexible or jobshare basis. If, however, the employer wishes to include information about jobshare or flexible working this information can be recorded on the vacancy.
Jobcentre Plus also contacts employers about each vacancy once they have been displayed by us for 48 hours. This enables us to discuss the employer's recruitment needs and identify if the employer may be interested in other Jobcentre Plus initiatives as well as identifying if there are other ways which could be considered to help the employer fill their vacancy. This will include the possible options around flexibility, part time working and job share.
Jobcentre Plus is currently looking at options to obtain this type of information from employers as part of its transforming labour market services programme. The programme aims to provide a personal service that helps individuals access sustainable work part of which will be to include details of flexibility and jobshare options where they apply when the employer initially places the vacancy.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unprocessed jobseeker's allowance claims there were in each (a) region and (b) Jobcentre Plus district in each of the last six months; what the average time taken to process claims in each instance was; and if she will make a statement. [300684]
Jim Knight: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. 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 unprocessed Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) claims there were in each (a) region and (b) Jobcentre Plus district in each of the last six months; what the average time taken to process claims in each instance was. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus does not process claims at District level but in Benefit Delivery Centres. Therefore the Management Information supplied will be for each Benefit Delivery Centre. I have also provided data at regional level as requested.
Jobcentre Plus gathers information on the volume of unprocessed claims from its internal benefit processing systems. As claims are received in Benefit Delivery Centres they are recorded on this system. The count of these unprocessed claims is a snapshot of which claims have yet to be fully processed to the point a decision is made on entitlement on the last working day of every month. The data provided may also slightly underestimate the volume of claims being processed as some cases could be in transit and/or be waiting to be logged onto the system.
Jobcentre Plus has a target for the average actual clearance time taken to process JSA claims, currently 11.5 days. Current year to date performance, as of November 2009, is 10.0 days. The time is calculated across an average of all the claims cleared in any given month looking at the date the customer first contacted Jobcentre Plus or the customer's first day of unemployment, whichever is the later. The end date is the date a formal decision is made on the claim and a notification is issued to the customer on entitlement.
Information on the number of unprocessed claims and the average time taken to process claims from May 2009 to October 2009 in each Region and Benefit Delivery Centre has been placed in Library.
New Deal Schemes: Preston
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women resident in Preston have participated in (a) the New Deal for Lone Parents and (b) the New Deal for Partners since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [311077]
Helen Goodman: The available information can be found in the following tables.
| New Deal for Lone Parents-starters (individuals) caseload: gender (female) by Westminster parliamentary constituency up to August 2009 | |
| Preston parliamentary constituency | Caseloads (female) |
| New Deal for Partners-individuals starting the caseload since April 2004 People starting: gender (female) by Westminster parliamentary constituency up to August 2009 | |
| Preston parliamentary constituency | Caseloads (female) |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Westminster parliamentary constituency (post May 2005) is allocated using the ONS postcode directory and customer's postcode. 3. The New Deal for Lone Parents was introduced in October 1998, latest data is to August 2009. 4. Data for New Deal for Partners is available from April 2004 (programme started in May 1999), latest data is available to August 2009. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate | |
Pensioners: Poverty
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in poverty there were in (a) 1997 and (b) 2009. [311777]
Angela Eagle: The Government use a basket of three key thresholds of income, after housing costs, to measure pensioner poverty. The most commonly used figures relate to those with incomes below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income, after housing costs.
Estimates of poverty are published annually in the 'Households Below Average Income' publication. The most recent estimate which can be made is for 2007-08, due to availability of data.
Latest information is provided in the following table:
| Number and proportion of pensioners falling below 60 per cent. of median household income, after housing costs, in 1997-98 (GB) and 2007-08 (UK) | ||
| Total number of pensioners | Proportion of pensioners | |
| Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data, sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). FRS figures are for Great Britain up to 1997-98, and for the United Kingdom from 1998-99, with estimates for Northern Ireland imputed for the years 1998-99 through 2001-02. The reference period for FRS figures is single financial years. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000. | ||
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners her Department estimates were in absolute poverty in (a) the East Midlands Government Office Region and (b) England in each year since 1997. [311111]
Angela Eagle: Estimates of poverty are published annually in the Households Below Average Income series. The Government use a basket of three key thresholds of income, after housing costs, to measure pensioner poverty. Absolute poverty is referred to as 60 per cent. of 1998-99 median income uprated in line with prices.
A: East midlands Government office region
Latest information for the east midlands Government office region, is based on three year averages and is provided in Table 1.
Latest information for England, again based on three year averages, is provided in Table 2.
Social Security Benefits: Publicity
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much money her Department (a) spent in each year since 2005 and (b) expects to spend in each of the next three years to raise public awareness of benefit entitlements. [303400]
Jim Knight: We want everyone to claim all the help they are entitled to but primarily we want people of working age to work rather than claim benefits so our focus is on promotion of in-work benefits. For pension age customers, we promote pension credit and associated benefits such as council tax benefit, housing benefit and winter fuel payments.
The breakdown for direct expenditure on these issues is as follows:
| £ | ||||
| Pension age benefits | Working age benefits | Breakdown | ||
|
Housing/council tax as in-work benefits and overall working age strategy development | ||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |