Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 November 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 November 2009. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Question: (3) what proportion of 16 year-olds in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency who left school without five GCSEs at grade A* to C began to claim jobseeker's allowance within six months of leaving school in the latest period for which figures are available.

Answer: The information requested is not available.Jobseeker's Allowance is not usually payable to under 18s, except those in severe hardship.Information on whether a claimant of Jobseeker's Allowance is or was a permanently excluded student is not collected by the Jobcentre.Academic qualifications are collected by the Jobcentre when a claimant applies for Jobseeker's Allowance however these are not collected on the datasets used to analyse Jobseeker's Allowance claimants.

Secondary information