Annex A

Annex A

Dear Matt Raven,

FOI Request Ref 2615

Thank you for your letter which stated.

I still do not understand the point in asking for distance you wish to travel if it is going to be ignored. For example, I have no interest in vacancies in London or Scotland but they keep being added into my search results despite being more than 10X the specified distance. The filter only helps if you do not wish to sort by "Date Posted" or one of the other options. As soon as you sort by "Date Posted" the jobs outside your area are mixed in with the potentially useful ones. This obviously increases the chances of relevant jobs being missed as pointless ones get in the way. Why not have a tick box to allow results from outside the specified area to be included? That would mean that you can block them out if you wish

Response

The job search tool you are using was developed by the Employment Service before it joined the Department in 2005.  It performs in this way because it allows employers who are loading vacancies to specify whether a vacancy should be advertised nationally or not, which may be because the job could be home-based or covers a wider area.

The jobs and skills search service on Directgov draws on the same database of vacancies as the current Jobcentre Plus site. It will inevitably provide results that include jobs that are located outside of your requested job search area. This is because of the employer need to specify national or local vacancies. However, you can refine you search criteria by selecting either the 'Quick' or 'Advanced' search options.

We recognise that your experience of using the current Jobcentre Plus tool is frustrating, but it would not be appropriate for us to spend money on changing it as we are in the process of replacing it with the jobs and skills search on Directgov as of March 2010.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, 5^th Floor The Adelphi, 1-11, John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

DWP Central Freedom of Information Team

e-mail: [DWP request email]

Our Ref: VTR2615

DATE: 1 February 2010