The available information is in the table.
As at November each year England North Yorkshire 1996 1,528,620 11,990 1997 1,120,390 8,865 1998 1,030,330 8,070 1999 924,785 7,220 2000 800,200 6,105 2001 740,795 5,650 2002 730,620 5,030 2003 715,290 4,955 2004 651,320 4,240 2005 722,685 4,780 2006 771,165 5,350 2007 657,270 4,690 2008 878,045 6,430 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five. 2. Data are published at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk 3. Jobseeker's allowance replaced unemployment benefit and income support for unemployed people on 7 October 1996. 4. Figures exclude clerical cases. Source: 100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus Computer Systems.
The available information is in the following table.
2007 2008 Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Total 23,100 19,910 22,750 23,260 14,710 23,500 24,730 21,320 25,430 25,910 27,920 31,380 Varied sanctions —discharge from HM forces — — — — — — — — — — — — Varied sanctions—leaving employment voluntarily 3,740 3,300 3,920 3,710 2,820 4,100 3,680 3,400 3,770' 3,890 3,760 3,820 Varied sanctions—lost employment through misconduct 800 730 720 800 580 970 1,060 880 1,010 1,040 950 940 Varied sanctions—NTA of an opportunity of employment — — — — — — — — — — — — Varied sanctions—refusal of employment 730 700 850 1,050 820 1,060 990 860 1,080 1,070 1,190 1,360 Fixed Sanction—giving up place on training scheme/emp prog 240 190 220 190 150 200 220 170 210 210 240 280 Fixed Sanction—losing place on place on training scheme/emp prog due to misconduct 600 510 610 560 420 600 660 650 800 790 970 1,100 Fixed Sanction—refusal of place on training scheme/emp prog 10 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 40 Fixed Sanction—NTA of place on training scheme/emp prog 30 20 20 20 20 30 20 20 30 30 30 20 Fixed Sanction—FTA place on training scheme/emp prog 1,760 1,430 1,470 1,530 1,130 1,560 1,690 1,450 1,710 1,690 1,950 2,250 Fixed Sanction—Refusal to carry out a JS direction 270 210 280 230 180 200 220 210 210 240 270 320 Entitlement—Actively seeking employment 2,970 2,640 3,380 3,690 1,890 2,860 3,700 3,160 3,460 3,230 3,780 4,440 Entitlement—Availability questions 540 540 530 490 310 400 440 330 430 440 560 690 Entitlement—FTA Advisory interview/Failure to produce signed declaration 11,390 9,620 10,690 10,930 6,330 11,490 12,000 10,140 12,690 13,230 14,180 16,080 Entitlement—JSAg questions 20 20 30 30 30 10 30 30 20 30 20 30 Entitlement—Trade disputes — — — — — — — — — — — — Entitlement—Joint Claim exemption 10 — 10 10 — — 10 — — — — 10 Definitions: NTA—Neglected to avail themselves FTA—Failed to attend JSAg—Jobseeker’s agreement Notes: 1. Individuals and decisions based figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. The most recent adverse sanction is shown for each individual. 3. Figures include all individuals who have had all or just part of their JSA payments sanctioned or withdrawn. 4. Varied length sanctions are sanctions of between one week and 26 weeks imposed for leaving employment voluntarily without just cause, refusing employment without good cause, or losing employment through misconduct. The actual period in each case is at the discretion of the Adjudication Officer who makes the decision. 5. Fixed length sanctions are sanctions of two weeks (four weeks if repeated within 12 months, and 26 weeks if already received a four week sanction within last 12 months) imposed for refusal, without good cause, to attend an employment programme or carry out a Jobseeker’s direction. Payment of benefit continues in full pending the Adjudication Officer’s decision on a sanction question. 6. Entitlement sanctions apply to questions on which entitlement to JSA depends. For example, if there is doubt around whether the Jobseeker’s agreement (JSAg) is suitable, whether they are actively looking for work or making themselves available for work. In most cases payment of JSA will be suspended by benefit processing until the doubt is resolved. Source: DWP Information Directorate: Jobseeker's Allowance Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database
(2) what his Department's latest projections are for (a) unemployment and (b) claimant count in each month in each of the next three years, (i) in total and (ii) broken down by the lowest possible geographical area for which projections are available.
The Government do not publish forecasts of unemployment, on either an ILO or jobseeker's allowance claimant count basis, but the jobseeker's allowance expenditure forecast is based on the planning assumption published by HM Treasury in the pre-Budget report.
Notes:
1. The figures quoted in the pre-Budget report are seasonally adjusted UK Claimant unemployment. This is a cautious assumption based on the average of external forecasts and is not the Treasury's economic forecast.
2. The pre-Budget report 2008 assumption can also be found at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr08_annexb_262.pdf
(p188. Table B1).
3. The planning assumption is used for budgetary planning at a national level, and is not disaggregated into sub-national areas.
The information requested can be found in the annual Department for Work and Pensions Departmental Reports since 2004, copies of which are available in the Library.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many unprocessed Jobseeker's Allowance claims there were in each of the last six months, broken down by region and Jobcentre Plus district and what the average claim processing time was in each case. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus calculates the number of unprocessed Jobseeker's Allowance claims on a monthly basis by carrying out a count across the benefit processing system on the last working day of the month. On any given day a small number of claims will be in transit between offices, so the count will slightly understate the total number of unprocessed claims.
The target for Jobseeker's Allowance Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) is 11.5 days. This is calculated from the customer's initial date of contact to the date a decision is made on their claim. Our benefit processing system calculates the AACT by taking each claim's clearance time using the dates as described and calculates an average across the volume of claims processed.
A copy of the latest available information has been placed in the Library. Data is available to Benefit Delivery Centre level and I have also given a national figure. This data has not been available by Jobcentre Plus district level since April 2006.