Tag: Stephen Timms

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent social and employment programmes financed through the European Social Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey

The European Social Fund supports a range of activities to help unemployed and disadvantaged people improve their employment prospects and skills. These activities expand or enhance the support provided by national and local programmes. Recent activities are being evaluated by a number of research studies and a cohort survey of participants. Reports on these will be published during 2014 and 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his most recent assessment is of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of Universal Jobmatch.

Esther McVey

Today, many jobs are only advertised on the internet. That’s why we are doing everything we can to give those looking for work the skills and the opportunities to access them. Universal Jobmatch is a powerful tool for successfully connecting people to jobs, and it is delivering.

The website launches a public service into the digital age, allowing people to search for work from their home, handheld devices, local libraries, as well as the traditional Jobcentre. It allows employers to match jobseekers to their vacancies and gives our customers access to a greater number of opportunities. It puts them on an equal footing with everyone else seeking a new job in the UK. With over 6 million job searches per a day, the service is clearly popular, successful, and value for money.

At 18 March 2014, there were 507,474 vacancies on the service.

All internet job sites face the issue of duplicate vacancies. We take this issue very seriously, and whenever we have a doubt about the validity of a job offer we will intervene, suspend the vacancy and investigate. If an employer breaches our terms and conditions we remove their right to advertise. Our continuing removal of such employers or jobs demonstrates that our system of checks works.

Since Universal Jobmatch was launched in November 2012, we have removed 1216 employer accounts that did not comply with our terms and conditions. That figure is equivalent to 0.2% of the total number of registered employer accounts.

Universal Jobmatch has revolutionised the way we deliver the public employment service. With over 6,000,000 job searches per day at a cost of far less than 1 pence each, it represents excellent value for money.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people and what proportion of the working age population have been in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance for over (a) two years, (b) five years and (c) 10 years in each region of England.

Esther McVey

The information requested is shown in the tables below.

Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in each Region in England by duration of claim and as a percentage of the working age population – as at August 2013

Region	All	%	Duration of 2 to 5 years	%	Duration of 5 to 10 years	%	Duration of over 10 years	%
North East	77,400	4.9	14,330	0.9	300	–	50	–
North West	166,260	3.8	22,990	0.5	1,400	–	180	–
Yorkshire and The Humber	140,760	4.3	23,660	0.7	810	–	110	–
East Midlands	87,700	3.2	12,900	0.5	630	–	40	–
West Midlands	141,210	4.2	23,410	0.7	1,490	–	120	–
East of England	93,300	2.6	13,370	0.4	420	–	50	–
London	191,590	3.5	30,990	0.6	1,420	–	250	–
South East	107,830	2.1	13,550	0.3	610	–	80	–
South West	68,750	2.2	8,530	0.3	180	–	50	–

Source: DWP IGS 100% WPLS and ONS Mid-2012 Population Estimates

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages are shown rounded to one decimal place. “ – “ denotes nil or negligible.
2. Working age population figures are defined as males aged 16-64 and females aged 16-59.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times a Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Team has been used since May 2010; and how many deployments have occurred in situations where 20 or more people faced redundancy.

Esther McVey

The Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Service works closely with employers and people facing redundancy to ensure they have access to all the help and information they need. The service aims to address the impact of job losses on workers and on the local community by helping people move into new jobs as quickly as possible.

The number of people in work has increased by 1.35 million since 2010 – over a million of these jobs are full-time – and the employment rate is now 72.3%, the highest it has been since 2008.

The level of redundancy is 55,000 lower than in 2010.

7,506 employers have accepted redundancy support from the Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Service since May 2010. Of these employers, 6,075 involved potential redundancies of 20 or more employees

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2014, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits, what the total amount of benefit withheld as a result of sanctions was in each of the last two years.

Esther McVey

The Department does not estimate the amount of benefit withheld as a result of benefit sanctions. The sanctions regime is designed to ensure claimants comply with their requirements in order to move off benefits and into work.

The Answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits, contained a calculation of the amount of jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) that claimants would have received if they had continued to be on benefit for the length of a fixed sanction. This is not the same as the amount withheld as a result of sanctions.

As the previous answer made clear, it is not possible to robustly estimate the actual amounts withheld as we do not know what would have happened in the absence of sanctions. For example, of claimants who leave benefit during a sanction – some may have left irrespective of the sanction being applied, and some may have left because of the sanction. Furthermore, the previous calculation did not include sanctions for Employment Support Allowance sanctions, Income Support for Lone Parents sanctions or JSA varied length sanctions and disentitlements as reliable data on the length of sanction or disentitlement is not readily available. Finally, the calculation did not net the figures for hardship payments.