Written question asked by Teresa Pearce (Labour) on Monday, 20 June 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 23 June 2011. It was answered by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 June 2011 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pathways to Work: Redundancy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people previously employed on Pathways to Work were made redundant in each of the last 12 months; and how many such people had disabilities.

Answer: Information on the number of people who were previously employed on Pathways to Work who were made redundant is not collected.The advent of the Work Programme has raised questions about the rights of staff working on previous employment programmes, such as Pathways to Work, to transfer to the new contractors under TUPE (the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006). This is a complex transition, with large numbers of contracts coming to an end and being replaced by a smaller number of larger contracts.While DWP understood the concerns of people involved in the Pathways to Work contracts, the support available through Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme represents a clean break from previous work initiatives and cannot therefore be seen as a continuation of Pathways to Work. Staff working for Pathways to Work providers were therefore not eligible for TUPE transfer to Jobcentre Plus.Official statistics are routinely published for employment programmes such as Pathways to Work. Official statistics on Pathways to Work starts and job entries are available up to October 2010, and are published at:"http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page= ib_ref_p2w"

Secondary information