Action for Jobs

HC Deb 25 October 1988 vol 139 cc159-60

6. Mr. Hanley

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the progress of the action for jobs initiative.

Mr. Lee

Action for jobs was launched in 1986 to raise public awareness of the wide range of help available through the employment, training and enterprise programmes of the Employment Department group.

Central to the campaign was the "Action for Jobs" booklet, and it is a measure of its success that more than 7.5 million copies of the booklet have been taken up.

Mr. Hanley

Does my hon. Friend agree that a recent study by the independent research organisation MORI has shown that advertising reaches those who need the services of the Department of Employment? Will he therefore continue to use advertising to reach those in need and not listen to the Labour party, which tends to think that any piece of good information reaching those who need it is called "political"?

Mr. Lee

Our action for jobs programme was a great success in raising awareness of our range of programmes, and within it we produced the first ever comprehensive guide to the whole range of programmes. We intend to continue in that way. Group publicity expenditure for 1988–89 is forecast at £49.5 million, or less than 2 per cent. of our overall programme spend.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

Is it not somewhat of an empty initiative for handicapped support organisations, such as Smile in Cumbria? Is the Minister aware that, following the phasing out of the community programme, it cannot employ people under the new training scheme? Is he further aware that it has had to approach Cumbria county council—rate and cash-strapped as it is—for additional funds? Does that not mean that the Government are with the one hand closing employment opportunities while with the other artificially trying to create them?

Mr. Lee

I am not aware of the programme to which the hon. Gentleman referred. The Department is spending about £3.5 billion this year on its overall employment and training measures and about £144 million on specific programmes to help the disabled.

Mr. Devlin

Will my hon. Friend take an early opportunity to thank the staff in the northern region who have done so much to promote interest in the action for jobs initiative? Will he congratulate them on the success of the Government's strategy in that region, where unemployment has fallen consistently for 26 months? In my constituency unemployment has fallen by about one third since 1987.

Mr. Lee

I am sure that when any of my ministerial colleagues next visit the northern region they will take up my hon. Friend's suggestion and praise the staff of the employment service for what they have achieved.