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18 Mar 2010 : Column 978W—continued
Jobcentre Plus
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans she has to send to Jobcentre Plus outreach advisers into selected areas of high unemployment; what areas will be selected; and what the budget is for this plan. [322359]
Jim Knight [holding answer 15 March 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 has asked me to reply to your question asking what plans she has to send Jobcentre Plus outreach advisers into selected areas of high unemployment; what areas will be selected; and what the budget is for this plan. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus announced in the White Paper "Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment" that it would be extending an initiative that has been running in three Districts (Merseyside, South London and South Tyne & Wear Valley) from June 2010.
Jobcentre Plus Advisers will work in the community to deliver an employment-focused outreach service specifically targeting high-density social housing estates and communities with high concentrations of worklessness.
A key theme will be to work with a range of partners and agencies to deliver a holistic approach to tackle deep-rooted, generational worklessness concentrated on social housing estates. This is an extension of our existing partnership activity to do more to target entrenched worklessness in these deprived areas/estates and helping to prevent these communities falling further behind as a result of the economic downturn.
The Department of Work and Pensions Parliamentary Under Secretary, Helen Goodman, announced on Tuesday 9th March which areas have been selected for this community outreach (please see table below). The cost for this activity is £12m a year.
This project is in addition to Jobcentre Plus' wide range of other outreach activity that already sees advisers operating from over 800 locations away from Jobcentres on a regular basis.
I hope you find this information helpful.
Jobcentre Plus: Racism
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints of racism have been made by customers 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. [316598]
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 for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints of racism have been made by customers 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 which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I can only provide data to regional level-to provide the data to district level would be of disproportionate cost to Jobcentre Plus and risk individuals being exposed.
Complaints received by Jobcentre Plus include those made about Jobcentre Plus, which include an element of complaint about other parts of government-these are included in the figures.
In addition, there are occasions when the Chief Executive Office of Jobcentre Plus receives some complaints, but these are not broken down by region and are categorised as "discrimination"-therefore the figures below do not include these complaints.
Every working day Jobcentre Plus conducts 50,000 adviser interviews, processes over 20,000 new benefit claims and its Contact Centres receive over 113,000 calls. The number of complaints of racism from customers against Jobcentre Plus staff is very low in the context of the number of interactions between Jobcentre Plus and our customers. However, Jobcentre Plus takes all complaints about racism very seriously.
Please see below the data as described:
| Complaints related to racism and ethnicity | |||||
| Region | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 to date |
| Source: Jobcentre Plus Management Information. | |||||
The data in the table refers to complaints and not proven cases of racism.
All staff are required to adhere to the Department for Work and Pensions Standards of Behaviour which states that:
"The Department's reputation depends on the quality of service provided and the way in which our employees conduct themselves. This includes treating all customers sympathetically and in a way that complies with the Diversity and Equality Policy."
The Diversity and Equality policy makes it clear that discrimination on the grounds of race will not be tolerated and all complaints that a member of staff have behaved inappropriately when dealing with a customer are thoroughly investigated. Whenever a member of staff is found to have breached the Department for Work and
Pensions Standards of Behaviour, then they will be dealt with in accordance with our HR policies.
I hope this information is helpful.
National Employment Savings Trust
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanism is in place to ensure the value for money of administrative services in respect of the National Employment Savings Trust when engaging with a single supplier. [321841]
Angela Eagle: The procurement process for this contract was governed by Public Procurement Rules and DWP Procurement Policy, which aim to achieve value for money.
Throughout procurement, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) progressively demonstrated they were a strong bidder and this was confirmed by their final bid.
There is now a contract in place to ensure value for money.
New Deal for Young People
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have (a) been mandated to participate and (b) participated in the New Deal for Young People in each year since 2005. [322860]
Jim Knight: The available information can be found in the following table.
The New Deal for Young People is a mandatory programme for jobseeker's allowance customers who have been claiming for six months. However, customers can volunteer for early entry to NDYP in certain circumstances.
| New Deal for Young People-starters (spells) early entrant indicator time series by year of starting the New Deal for GB | |||
| Time series-year of starting | Total | Early entrant | Normal entrant |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied. 2. The latest New Deal figures will be affected by the introduction of the new Jobseekers Regime and Flexible New Deal (gradual implementation started from April 2009). 3. Early entrant indicator-early entrants are estimated to be those participants who join New Deal for Young People before reaching six months unemployed. 4. Time Series-year of starting is the calendar year of starting New Deal. The New Deal for Young People pilots began in January 1998 and full national roll-out occurred in April 1998. Latest data are to November 2009. Source Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate | |||
Social Security Benefits: British Nationals Abroad
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when she expects her Department to recommence the payment of re-instated exportable sickness benefits and back-dated payments due to UK citizens now resident in other EU member states and in Switzerland. [322897]
Jonathan Shaw: Benefits cannot be reinstated automatically without further information from the affected customers. The Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) will start writing to all affected customers by the end of March 2010. On receipt of the required information, claims for reinstatement will be processed as quickly as possible.
Social Security Benefits: Disabled
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the number of applications for (a) attendance allowance and (b) disability living allowance which will be approved under special rules in each of the next five years. [322180]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not available.
Social Security Benefits: Mentally Ill
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people were in receipt of (a) incapacity benefit and (b) other out-of-work benefits as a result of mental health conditions in each year since 1997. [320824]
Jonathan Shaw: As the single biggest cause of both sickness absence and claims for ill health benefits, mental health is a key challenge for the Department and for Government more widely. To address this challenge, we must support people with existing mental health conditions to find, keep or return to a job.
Our employment programmes are designed to be tailored for the employment needs of individual customers regardless of the nature of their health condition or disability. Our recent mental health and employment publications outline practical actions to improve well-being at work for everyone and to deliver better employment results for people who have mental health conditions.
The available information is in the table.
| The number of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants, with a main disabling condition of a mental and behaviour disorder-Great Britain and abroad | |
| At August each year | Mental and behavioural disorders |
| Notes: 1. Figures for 1997 and 1998 have been derived by applying 5 per cent. proportions to 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study totals and rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Figures from August 1999 onwards have been rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. To qualify for incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance, claimants have to undertake a medical assessment of incapacity for work which is called the personal capability assessment. Therefore, the medical condition recorded on incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claim form does not itself confer entitlement to incapacity benefits, so for example, the decision for a customer claiming incapacity benefit on grounds of a mental and behavioural disorder would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities in the personal capability assessment. 4. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008 and data by medical condition are not yet available for employment and support allowance claims. Source: August 1997 and August 1998: Department for Work Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 5 per cent. data. August 1999 onwards: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent data. | |
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