asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will ensure that participation in the job-splitting scheme will be purely voluntary and that no unemployed person will be denied benefit if they refuse the offer of a shared post.

It is the Government's intention that participation in the scheme will be voluntary. The operation of the scheme will not interfere with the normal qualifying conditions for the receipt of benefit.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements will be made to enable older workers to participate in the job-splitting scheme without prejudice to their occupational pension entitlement.

Occupational pension schemes are set up voluntarily by employers.I hope that employers participating in the scheme will devise arrangements whereby occupational pension rights already accrued would not be prejudiced.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he is satisfied that by limiting access for the unemployed to the scheme to those in receipt of benefits he is not excluding people who might welcome a job-sharing arrangement, particularly those women who are seeking part-time work but who do not register as unemployed because they are ineligible for benefit.

It is our intention that the job-splitting scheme should be broadly self-financing, with its costs being offset by savings in benefits which would otherwise be paid. For this reason access for the unemployed will be limited to those in receipt of benefit. I recognise that some people interested in part-time work will be ineligible under the scheme.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will raise the qualifying hours for receipt of a job-splitting grant from 15 to 16 so as to ensure employment protection for all the participants.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will ensure that participants in the job-splitting scheme will be entitled to pay and other negotiated benefits on a pro rata basis to their full-time counterparts.

The terms and conditions of employment of people taking part-time jobs under the scheme will be a matter for negotiation between employers and employees, in the normal way.