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Written question asked by Lesley Laird (Labour) on Thursday, 19 October 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 October 2017. It was answered by Damian Hinds (Conservative) on Friday, 27 October 2017 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.


Unemployed People: Flexible Support Fund and Travel Cards

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers who have been claiming universal credit or jobseeker's allowance for more than 13 weeks in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK have who have applied for (i) a jobcentre plus travel discount card and (ii) the Flexible Support Fund, have had their application rejected.

Answer

The questions above have been split in order that we can provide specifics where possible:

Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card:

Jobcentre Plus does not collate data on the number of jobseekers who have applied for the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card –this information could only be obtained through scrutiny of individual jobseeker records– or the number of rejected applications. However usage of the scheme can be monitored via a monthly stock level report. For the period 30 September 2016 to 29 September 2017 a total of 16,185 cards have been replenished in Jobcentre sites nationally. Of those 907 were for Scotland (6%) Over the 12 months period, the currently weekly usage average is calculated at 286 nationally. These figures represent stock ordering, and as such do not automatically equate to the number of cards issued.

Flexible Support Fund: Use of FSF provision is at the discretion of work coaches who can use the provision for removing a range of barriers to employment and/or moving jobseekers closer to employment. As jobseekers do not apply directly for FSF there is no rejection, therefore this information is not readily available.

There would be a disproportionate cost in undertaking this activity.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
108808
Session
2017-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Unemployed people Travel cards Flexible Support Fund
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk