Workstep

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Workstep places are unoccupied, broken down by location; and whether he plans to reallocate those places to providers who have already successfully filled their allocation. (116450)

[holding answer 18 January 2007]: The information is in the following table.

*Unfilled Workstep places at the end of November 2006 by Jobcentre region*
	Number
East Midlands	86
North East	151
London	167
South East	94
Yorkshire and Humberside	211
Wales	54
West Midlands	162
Scotland	163
South West	98
North West	205
East of England	166
Nationally-contracted provision	97
Total	1,654
Note: Figures for Workstep are not collected for any smaller geographical units.

We have no plans to re-allocate these unfilled places as a level of under-occupancy based on previous performance is assumed for contracting purposes and for setting the annual expenditure allocation for the Workstep programme.

Volume 456: debated on Wednesday 7 February 2007