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24 Feb 2010 : Column 569W—continued
Employment Schemes: Financial Services
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) whether her Department operates programmes to assist workers made redundant from the financial services sector to find employment; [315898]
(2) how much her Department has spent on measures to fund employment for workers previously employed in the financial services sector in the last 12 months; and what steps it has taken to that end. [315899]
Jim Knight: The Government are taking decisive steps to tackle the effects of the recession and reduce unemployment and are committed to helping every unemployed person return to work.
While we do not operate programmes specifically aimed at supporting redundant workers from the financial services sector, we have made available up to £5 billion, since November 2008, to offer a substantial package of new back to work support to all jobseekers, irrespective of their background, throughout their time on jobseeker's allowance.
We have quadrupled funding to the Rapid Response Service which provides support to employees under threat of redundancy, helping them to find new employment quickly.
We have also significantly increased the funding to maintain and increase the existing support that is available to newly unemployed claimants through Jobcentre Plus and its external partners. As well as help with jobsearch, skills and access to basic skills training, newly unemployed people now have day one access to Local Employment Partnership vacancies, help to meet the expenses involved in finding work and, for some, access to Work Trials.
In April 2009, we strengthened this support by introducing group jobsearch sessions specifically targeted at newly unemployed people, as well as specialist back to work support for newly unemployed professionals and executives, delivered through recruitment agencies. We built on this in the recent White Paper "Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment", and from spring 2010, we will be strengthening the support offered to professional customers by offering further access to a follow-up session with these agencies to maintain the momentum of their journey back to work.
Further back to work support is available to all jobseekers throughout their claim and the longer somebody is on jobseeker's allowance, the more support they can
get. This currently includes access to recruitment subsidies, self-employment support, work focused training and volunteering at six months and more intensive personalised support from external providers later in a claim.
There is also a substantial package of support available to 18 to 24-year-olds to help them get back to work which includes a guarantee of a job, work focused training or work experiences at the six month stage in a claim.
Employment Schemes: Young People
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residents of each local authority area in the North West aged between 16 and 24 years old have taken up (a) graduate internship, (b) a non-graduate internship, (c) work and (d) training since the Young Person's Guarantee came into effect; and how many are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance under that Guarantee. [317210]
Jim Knight: Information on graduate internships, non-graduate internships, work, and training through the Young Person's Guarantee, is not currently available, but will be made available from spring 2010 through a statistical release that is planned to cover the whole of the Young Person's Guarantee. This is normal practice for the Department's employment programmes and it allows time for the information to be collected, understood, verified and reported.
Future Jobs Fund
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many bids for Future Jobs Fund funding have been accepted in each parliamentary constituency; and how many jobs are expected to be created under bids in each such constituency. [304377]
Jim Knight: The information requested has not been recorded by parliamentary constituency and therefore cannot be provided.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people are participating in Future Jobs Fund jobs; and how many Future Jobs Fund job vacancies there are. [304397]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not currently available. Information on numbers of young people participating in Future Jobs Fund jobs will be made available in future through a statistical release covering the whole of the Young Person's Guarantee. The first publication will be available in the spring, and quarterly thereafter.
Jobcentre Plus: Racism
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints of racism have been made by Jobcentre Plus staff against other Jobcentre Plus staff in each of the last five years, broken down by the smallest geographical area for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [316597]
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.
Letter from Darra Singh, dated 24 February 2010:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints of racism have been made by Jobcentre Plus staff against other Jobcentre Plus staff in each of the last five years, broken down by smallest geographical area for which information is available. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Department does not maintain any automated data to capture the volumes of formal complaints from current or former staff relating to race discrimination. Although Jobcentre Plus retains clerical information on official written complaints from existing or former members of staff; this data does not identify where complaints relate specifically to any allegations of racism.
Although formal investigations into allegations of harassment, bullying and discrimination are handled through our Department for Work and Pensions Human Resources Investigation Service, some complaints may be addressed separately through local management investigations and there is no available data to provide the requested information in full.
I am, therefore, unable to provide a more detailed reply.
Mining: Industrial Diseases
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many former miners have (a) applied for and (b) been granted industrial injuries benefit for miners' knee in the North East region to date. [317160]
Helen Goodman: The information is not available in the format requested.
The current national position is that since the addition of osteoarthritis of the knee to the list of prescribed industrial diseases on 13 July 2009, 32,820 claims have been received nationally of which 7,713 have received an award of, or an increase of industrial injuries disablement benefit.
This information is based on an ongoing informal count by the Jobcentre Plus offices dealing with industrial injuries disablement benefit. We are looking into arrangements to publish this information as official statistics.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the number of miners and former miners who experience chronic back and neck pain as a result of their working conditions. [317242]
Helen Goodman: It is not possible to provide a reliable estimate because the Labour Force Survey contains insufficient cases of miners, or former miners, who have self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what rate of interest her Department used in calculations of entitlements and payments under the Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme in each of the last 12 months. [316746]
Helen Goodman: The standard interest rate used to calculate Support for Mortgage Interest was 6.08 per cent. in each of the last 12 months.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme funding recipients reached the maximum two-year period permitted for claiming in each of the last eight quarters. [316802]
Helen Goodman: The two-year period limit for jobseekers claiming Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) was introduced in January 2009. It applies only to customers receiving jobseeker's allowance.
No SMI customer has been affected by the introduction of this two-year limit because it is less than two years since it was introduced. The earliest date that a jobseeker could be affected by the two year limit is 5 January 2011 assuming continuous receipt of jobseeker's allowance including SMI throughout the two year period.
New Deal Schemes
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many flexible New Deal phase 1 suppliers were fully operational on 6 October 2009. [304381]
Jim Knight: Fourteen supplier organisations were contracted to start delivering flexible new deal from October 2009. Twelve of the 14 started delivery from 5 October, meaning there was a supplier operating in every contract package area from that date. By 20 October all 14 suppliers were fully operational in all phase one contract package areas covering 28 Jobcentre Plus districts.
New Deal Schemes: Feltham
Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women resident in Feltham and Heston have participated in the New Deal for (a) Lone Parents and (b) Partners since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [316693]
Helen Goodman: The available information can be found in the following table.
Over 2.2 million people have been helped into work through the New Deals, and we are building on the success of this programme to create the Flexible New Deal. This programme will better meet the employment and skills needs of those who have been on Jobseeker's Allowance for a long time or who have struggled to find a stable pattern of work.
Pension Credit: Kingston
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in (a) the Royal borough of Kingston and (b) Kingston and Surbiton constituency have been in receipt of pension credit in each of the last three years. [318040]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is in the following tables:
| Recipients of pension credit in Kingston upon Thames, local authority | ||
| As at August each year | Household recipients | Individual beneficiaries |
| Recipients of pension credit in Kingston and Surbiton parliamentary constituency | ||
| As at August each year | Household recipients | Individual beneficiaries |
| Notes: 1. Numbers rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Pension credit is claimed on a household basis-household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are also claiming. 3. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory. 4. On April 1 2009 structural changes to the local authorities of England took effect. Changes are reflected from May 2009 in the Tabulation Tool. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study | ||
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