Jobseeker’s Allowance

Mr. Frank Field
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.

Mr. McNulty
[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.

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|                                                                                   |£ million|
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|2008-09                                                                            |2,067    |
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|2009-10                                                                            |3,250    |
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|2010-11                                                                            |3,804    |
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|Source:DWP website:http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/Alltables_PBR2008_rounded.xls?x=1|         |
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