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Lone Parents

Volume 300: debated on Friday 7 November 1997

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To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if the control groups operating to measure the effect of her New Deal for Lone Parents scheme contain lone parents who are not taking part in the scheme. [14686]

The New Deal for Lone Parents has been introduced in eight initial phase areas. Lone parents whose youngest child is at school are invited for interviews with their personal advisers who provide "better-off' calculations and individually tailored advice. Lone parents with pre-school children can volunteer for the New Deal.

Measurement of the effects of the New Deal for Lone Parents will rely on control areas rather than control groups. The control areas closely match the New Deal areas. The New Deal for lone parents will be evaluated by a consortium led by Social and Community Planning Research, an independent research institute together with the Institute of Employment Relations at Warwick University and the university of Bath. The impact of the scheme will be measured by comparing outcomes for lone parents in the New Deal areas with the outcomes for a similar, but geographically separate group of lone parents in the control areas. None of the lone parents in the control areas will be eligible for the New Deal.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what public funding was provided to the Gingerbread Group to participate in the press conference to launch the Moving Foward document. [14685]

Gingerbread did not receive any public funds for attending the press conference which launched the Moving Forward document.

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what are the detailed objectives for the control groups operating to measure the effect of her New Deal for Lone Parents scheme; and, if so, if she will list what these are; [14926](2) when she started the control groups to measure the effect of her New Deal for Lone Parents scheme, in each of the areas in which they are operating; [14928](3) what are the terms of reference for the control groups in the New Deal for Lone Parents scheme; and how they differ from those of the last Government's Parent Plus scheme; [14925](4) what is her definition of control group with respect to those being used in the New Deal for Lone Parents scheme; [14927](5) for what reasons the control groups in the New Deal for Lone Parents scheme did not start with the scheme itself. [14929]

The New Deal for Lone Parents will fulfil the Government's commitment to provide help to lone parents to get off benefit and into work. The programme has been introduced in the following eight Benefits Agency districts:

  • North Surrey
  • North Worcestershire
  • North Cheshire
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Warwickshire
  • Clyde Valley
  • Cardiff and Vale
  • Sheffield East
These areas have been carefully selected to represent areas of high, medium and low unemployment and to have typical caseloads of lone parents. Untypical areas were excluded.The impact of the first phase of the New Deal for Lone Parents will be measured by comparing outcomes for lone parents in the New Deal areas with the outcomes for a similar, but geographically separate group of lone parents

in control areas where the New Deal service is not yet available. These control areas are the Benefits Agency districts of:

  • Manchester Central
  • Glasgow Springburn and Cumbernauld
  • Blackburn and Accrington
  • Leicestershire North
  • Wiltshire
  • Buckinghamshire

Any additional movements into work in the New Deal areas over and above that which occurs in the control areas can be attributed to the New Deal itself, after allowing for changes in the local labour markets. The objectives of the control areas are, therefore, to provide a benchmark by which to assess the impact of the New Deal.

Administrative data for the control areas is being collected from the same date as that for the New Deal areas. This data will be collected for the duration of the New Deal and beyond. Carefully selected samples of lone parents in the control areas will be interviewed, as will lone parents in the New Deal areas.

The Parent Plus service would have only been available to half of the one parents on Income Support in each of the pilot areas. The impact of Parent Plus would have been measured by comparing movements into work amongst those offered the service (the action group) against those lone parents in the same area who were not offered the service (the control group).