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Vacancies

Answer

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not hold the figures requested because job vacancies are no longer placed via Jobcentres. There are three ways in which employers can contact us to place a vacancy via our national service:"Employer Direct (ED). This is a national telephone service, which is open 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday. Most vacancies that are placed over the telephone will go "live" immediately, which means that they will be available on the directgov website and jobpoints. Where a vacancy requires additional paperwork to be completed, for example, if it states a person of a certain age or gender is required, then the vacancy will not be live until the employer has completed and returned the paperwork to the contact centre.""Employer Direct Online (EDON). This is an online service, which is available at all times, and can be found on the directgov website. Frequent users of EDON have the option to complete ""checks and sign paperwork to become EDON Approved. This means that when they place vacancies, they will go live straight away. However, there are system checks that may hold a vacancy, meaning that it will require further checking by DWP staff before going live. These checks are cleared within two working hours. If the employer is not EDON Approved, then the vacancy will not go live until it has been checked, again within two working hours.""National Email Team (NET). This is a national service provided between 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday, employers can email their vacancies into the Department. NET has four working hours to complete the necessary checks and post the vacancy."During January 2012, ED received 57,820 calls and the average handling time was 6 minutes and 12 seconds, meaning that most vacancies were posted within that time, except when supplementary paperwork was required.During January 2012, EDON received 17,596 vacancies that required-checks from DWP staff. Of these 48 were cleared outside of the two hour target.During January 2012, NET received 45,547 vacancies. Of these 8,517 were cleared outside of the four hour target.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

94489; 541 c27-8W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Vacancies

Link

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