To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he has allocated for expenditure on income-based jobseeker's allowance in the next three years. (266798)

[holding answer 26 March 2009]: Most benefits, including income-based jobseeker’s allowance, are managed through Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). AME is public expenditure for which multi-year spending limits are not seen as appropriate, and which is instead subject to regular review.

Available information on future jobseeker's allowance expenditure up to 2010-11 is shown in the table, taken from the forecasts published at the Pre-Budget Report in November. The figures will be updated after the Budget on 22 April 2009.