Employment Schemes
Work and Pensions
Stephen Timms (East Ham, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness of 23 January 2012, Official Report, column 1, that he would issue guidance to Work Programme providers on publication of data on their own performance shortly, and with reference to the answer of 19 March 2012, Official Report, column 495W, on employment schemes, that he aimed to issue such guidance by the end of April 2012, when he now plans to publish such guidance; and if he will make a statement.
Chris Grayling (Minister of State (Employment), Work and Pensions; Epsom and Ewell, Conservative)
The guidance discussed was intended to set out in more detail how providers could release data through the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the trade association for the welfare to work industry. However, following an internal review, it was agreed that current guidance was sufficient to allow providers to publish job entry data in this way, and that further formal guidance was not necessary. ERSA released a second tranche of figures on