To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the average length of time was for which jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants resident in (a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster received JSA in each of the last five years. (282785)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for what average length of time jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants resident in (a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster received JSA in each of the last five years. (282785)

The number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) is taken from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. The length of a claim has been defined as the time between the start of an individual's claim and that claim ending. Table 1 shows the median length of completed claims during the May count period of the last 5 years.