HC Deb 27 April 1993 vol 223 cc836-7
5. Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what progress has been made in setting up the workstart pilot projects.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

I have asked the Employment Service and the two training and enterprise councils in the pilot areas to submit plans by 7 May. I hope that the first employees to be taken on under the scheme will start work by June.

Mr. Beith

Does the Secretary of State realise how dissatisfied I am, as someone who advocated a workstart scheme and supports its principles, that long-term unemployed people in Northumberland—where there are many long-term unemployed—are excluded from the scheme both in my constituency and in the constituency of Hexham, which was mentioned earlier? At what stage will she decide whether to continue the scheme and whether to extend it?

Mrs. Shephard

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman welcomes the 2 per cent. fall in unemployment in his constituency last month. I also hope that he will welcome the fact that long-term unemployed people in his constituency and elsewhere will greatly benefit from the 1.6 million opportunities for long-term unemployed people that we now have on stream.

As for the pilots, the right hon. Gentleman will realise that a pilot is a pilot. If the pilot projects succeed, we shall certainly consider extending them.

Dr. Spink

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the return in confidence, the recovery and the workstart pilot scheme will give new opportunity, new hope and great help to the long-term unemployed in Britain?

Mrs. Shephard

I agree with my hon. Friend that the workstart pilots should be extremely useful. We will monitor them carefully to see what lessons can be learnt and, in particular, what special help, confidence and encouragement they can give to people who have been unemployed for a long time.

Mr. Tony Lloyd

Does the Secretary of State nevertheless recognise that even though workstart is only a pilot scheme, people are worried that employers are being asked simply to give an undertaking that they will not make other people unemployed in order to take on people on workstart and, I assume, an undertaking that they will not simply dismiss people at the end of the scheme? In the same vein as the Secretary of State waxed eloquent about fraud among those who claim benefit, will she wax eloquent about fraud among employers who seek to abuse the system?

Mrs. Shephard

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. The contracts with the participating firms will naturally stipulate that existing employees must not be displaced and that the workstart participants will be considered additional to normal recruitment. As he would expect, the scheme will be subject to close and careful monitoring.