Jim Knight answers a question

Jim Knight couldn't tell Mark Lancaster MP the figures for A4e programmes in his own constituency of Milton Keynes or for England as a whole. But he could tell Hazel Blears MP (coincidentally, no doubt, a member of his own party) "how many young people in the City of Salford have participated in the New Deal for Young People in each year since its introduction." (See TheyWorkForYou.com) Not that the table of figures he provided enlighten us about its success or otherwise. But perhaps that was the point. The DWP certainly keeps stats on outcomes, and it analyses them by provider. The information is published, but not in a constituency by constituency form. It appears that the Department is happy to provide information to MPs on participation in New Deal in their constituencies, but not on outcomes.

No answers

The Conservative MP for North East Milton Keynes has been quite persistent lately in asking written questions to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions about unemployment issues, with a particular focus on A4e. On 25 January he asked "how many hours of training A4e staff working on contracts let by her Department undertake annually" and was told by Jim Knight that "Staff training is an internal matter for A4E and therefore not one that the Secretary of State can offer information about, or comment on." Yesterday Mr Lancaster homed in on results, asking more or less the same question in two ways: "what percentage of people who have attended A4e meetings as part of programmes delivered under contract to her Department have found work within six months since the inception of those contracts in (a) England and (b) Milton Keynes?" and "how many people who have attended A4e meetings in Milton Keynes as part of programmes delivered under contract to her Department have found work within six months since the inception of those contracts?" Reasonable questions, one might think. But he got the same answer from Jim Knight to both: "This information is not available in the format requested." One hopes that Mr Lancaster is not satisfied with this non-answer.