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Employment Schemes

Answer

The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.Letter from Darra Singh:"The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking how many Jobcentre Plus offices have used (a) extended postal signing, (b) telephone jobsearch reviews, (c) suspension of signing, (d) 13-week interviews by telephone and (e) 13-week group sessions in each month since flexible interventions were first used; and how many Jobcentre Plus customers were the subject of each such practice; and what estimate she has made of the number of Jobcentre Plus offices that have used flexible interventions in each month since they were first used; and how many customers have been the subject of such interventions. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.""Flexible interventions were introduced at a time of rapidly increasing demand on our services and before we had the opportunity to increase our staffing levels to meet those demands. We have subsequently recruited additional staff which in turn has allowed ""us to reduce the number of flexible interventions deployed. In some circumstances, we have decided to deploy our flexibilities into our core business as part of our improved delivery model, in order to further improve customer service. During the economic downturn, despite these increased demands, Jobcentre Plus maintained and improved performance and is meeting all of its key performance targets.""A total of 19 flexible interventions were approved. The number of Jobcentre Plus offices that have deployed the specific flexible interventions you requested information on are detailed in the table below. However, management information on the number of customers who have been the subject of these interventions is not collected."

	Extended postal signing	Telephone jobsearch reviews	Suspension of signing	13 week interviews by telephone	13 week group sessions
2009
April	4	0	1	34	19
May	1	2	0	55	69
June	0	0	0	61	76
July	0	0	0	8	82
August	0	0	0	2	83
September	0	0	1	1	84
October	0	0	0	4	75
November	0	2	0	1	57
December	0	0	0	0	56
2010
January	0	0	0	0	55
Source: Jobcentre Plus Management Information.

"The number of Jobcentre Plus offices that have deployed one or more of the approved flexible interventions are detailed in the following table. Management information on the number of customers who have been subject to these interventions is not collected."

	Number of Jobcentre Plus offices that have used flexible interventions
2009
April	557
May	470
June	570
July	628
August	627
September	636
October	657
November	687
December	689
2010
January	691
Source: Jobcentre Plus Management Information.

"By introducing these flexibilities our level of customer service was not adversely affected whilst customer volumes were rising. For example the suspension of signing in two offices did not lead to a delay in benefits being paid.""I hope this information is helpful."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

507 c500-1W; 309220

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Jobcentres Jobcentre Plus

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk