New Deal (Young People)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average length of time spent on the Gateway of the New Deal for 18 to 25-year-olds by those (a) going directly into unsubsidised employment, (b) entering each of the New Deal Options subsequently chosen, (c) transferring to other benefits, (d) taking other options and (e) for whom no ultimate destination is known. [81110]

The information set out in the following table shows the average length of time spent on the New Deal Gateway by immediate destination, for those young people who had left the Gateway by the end of January 1999.

Destination on leaving the Gateway	Average length of time spent on Gateway (in days)
Unsubsidised employment	70
Options
Employer Option	68
Full-time Education or Training Option	91
Voluntary Sector Option	123
Environment Task Force Option	128
Other benefits	79
Other known destinations	82
Unknown destinations	76

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of those joining each of the options of the New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds in each month since January 1998 have had (a) no qualifications (b) foundation level qualifications, (c) NVQ Level 1, (d) NVQ Level 2, (e) NVQ Level 3, (f) NVQ Level 4 and (g) other qualifications. [81093]

The information is set out in the following tables and is drawn from data listing qualifications supplied by the participant.

Percentage
Highest qualification held on entry to New Deal
	None	Other	Foundation	NVQ/SVQ Level 1	NVQ/SVQ Level 2	NVQ/SVQ Level 3	NVQ/SVQ Level 4+	Total
Month of entering of employer option
January 1998	27	3	0	24	21	18	6	100
February 1998	16	2	8	26	38	7	3	100
March 1998	20	8	8	24	30	9	2	100
April 1998	26	8	8	16	30	7	5	100
May 1998	21	18	7	18	25	7	3	100
June 1998	24	22	7	14	24	6	2	100
July 1998	24	21	6	16	25	6	2	100
August 1998	27	23	7	12	23	6	2	100
September 1998	24	24	5	14	25	6	2	100
October 1998	26	23	6	14	23	6	2	100
November 1998	24	23	7	13	25	6	2	100
December 1998	23	24	6	12	28	5	2	100
January 1999	23	20	8	16	23	6	4	100
Total	24	21	7	15	25	6	2	100
Month of entering full time education and training option
January 1998	29	0	0	18	41	0	12	100
February 1998	19	0	10	32	29	5	5	100
March 1998	24	3	13	25	28	4	4	100
April 1998	21	6	11	25	27	7	3	100
May 1998	26	6	11	23	22	6	6	100
June 1998	29	13	11	20	20	4	4	100
July 1998	30	16	10	18	20	4	2	100
August 1998	30	21	9	17	18	3	2	100
September 1998	27	24	7	16	21	4	1	100
October 1998	29	22	9	16	20	4	1	100
November 1998	32	19	9	16	18	4	2	100
December 1998	32	20	8	16	19	3	1	100
January 1998	33	20	8	17	17	3	2	100
Total	29	20	8	17	20	4	2	100
Month of entering full time education and training option
January 1998	0	0	20	0	0	40	40	100
February 1998	0	0	13	33	27	20	7	100
March 1998	13	3	13	11	45	8	8	100
April 1998	23	0	10	20	17	3	27	100
May 1998	16	9	11	17	25	12	11	100
June 1998	15	11	15	20	25	7	7	100
July 1998	23	15	11	18	21	6	6	100
August 1998	27	21	7	16	17	7	4	100
September 1998	29	24	8	14	15	7	3	100
October 1998	28	23	7	16	18	5	2	100
November 1998	29	23	6	14	20	5	2	100
December 1998	31	20	6	16	18	5	3	100
January 1999	32	19	8	15	18	6	2	100
Total	28	20	8	16	19	6	4	100
Month of entering environment task force option
February 1998	14	0	14	0	14	29	29	100
March 1998	19	7	7	33	11	4	19	100
April 1998	27	4	15	17	21	6	10	100
May 1998	33	8	4	16	20	8	10	100
June 1998	35	4	17	20	16	4	5	100
July 1998	44	6	13	19	11	4	3	100
August 1998	43	12	12	15	14	4	1	100
September 1998	45	18	9	15	10	2	1	100
October 1998	48	16	8	14	11	2	1	100
November 1998	50	17	7	11	12	2	1	100
December 1998	49	15	8	14	10	2	0	100
January 1999	47	16	7	13	13	2	2	100
Total	46	15	9	14	12	3	2	100

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the procedure under the New Deal for Young Unemployed for dealing with a person who disappears from an option and then returns to claim benefit. [81363]

Young people who return to claim Jobseekers Allowance within 13 weeks of leaving a New Deal option are taken back into New Deal. All cases are referred to adjudication for a decision on whether the young person had "good cause" for leaving the option early.

Volume 329: debated on Monday 19 April 1999