Welfare to Work

HC Deb 09 July 1998 vol 315 cc1221-3

3. Mrs. Linda Gilroy (Plymouth, Sutton)

What steps he is taking to help people who are unemployed and over the age of 25 off benefits and into work. [48090]

The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett)

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities and I launched on 29 June the programme for adult long-term unemployed people, providing £75 a week subsidy, advice and counselling on the lines of the initial gateway for the younger unemployed, and up to a full year's full-time education for those for whom it is appropriate. In pathfinder areas, we are also providing forward funding for the skills initiative, which will help to overcome the skills shortage that has been identified so far by our skills task force.

Mrs. Gilroy

I thank the Secretary of State for that reply. Does he agree that, for the 678 people in my constituency who are over the age of 25 and have been unemployed for two years, the new deal represents a good deal to help them back into employment? Is he satisfied with the progress in the pilot employment zone in Plymouth, which has already attached 50 people to personal advisers who are identifying personal barriers to getting back to work and staying in work?

Mr. Blunkett

I am very pleased to give the employment zone and those who got it off the ground the credit that they deserve. It is an excellent initiative and we hope to be able to build on it. We are delighted with the progress made in offering the adult unemployed a real opportunity. Major companies right across the board have been prepared to sign up to the programme since 29 June, and an extra £479 million of new money is going towards helping the longer-term unemployed, on top of the £450 million that is already being put in through the Employment Service, training and enterprise councils and local enterprise companies in Scotland. That makes it possible to give hope to the long-term unemployed at the same time as investing in the future of young people.

Mr. Andrew Rowe (Faversham and Mid-Kent)

Is the Secretary of State aware that some elements of the voluntary sector, especially those with long experience of helping people back into work, have been rather disturbed by some of the language used by his Department, which appears to imply that they have no role in the programme? Will he take this opportunity to say that that is not the case?

Mr. Blunkett

Yes, I am happy to do so. In each of our initiatives, as I said earlier in relation to education, there is an emphasis on partnership. The voluntary sector and those with long-standing experience have an essential part to play not only in delivering the programmes but in giving advice on imaginative ways in which we can re-engage with those who, often through no fault their own, have been out of employment for a very long time.

Mr. John Healey (Wentworth)

Does my right hon. Friend agree that programme centres have proved more successful and more popular among the long-term unemployed, whom they were designed to help, than the Employment Service jobsearch programme? Is he aware that Rotherham is one of the national pilot centres, and that one of our two programme centres, run by QMAT—Quality Management and Training Ltd.—will celebrate tomorrow its 300th client placed in work? Given that the pilot programme centres have already proved their worth, what plans are there to extend the centres throughout the country?

Mr. Blunkett

I am delighted to commend the work that has been done in Rotherham, and those 300 people have clearly benefited greatly from programmes tailored on a modular basis to their specific needs. The same principles are beginning to be applied across the board. Employment zones, with the personal job accounts, are also a new and imaginative way of making progress. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities and I want to build on the experience that has been gained and develop the programmes more widely.

Mr. Paul Keetch (Hereford)

Is the scheme under the new deal for unemployed over-25s compulsory? The design document suggests an element of compulsion, but it is not exactly clear. If there is compulsion, does the Secretary of State agree that, to offer no fifth option for the unemployed under 25 might be acceptable, but to offer no third option for the unemployed over 25 is not acceptable?

Mr. Blunkett

Attending for interview is compulsory, but taking one of the options available in the programme for the longer-term unemployed is not. When we develop our pilot programme from November, with £129 million of new money and programmes tailored for the 12-month to 18-month unemployed, further options will be available based on the principles set out for the under-25s.

Mr. Andrew Reed (Loughborough)

I welcome the announcement that the over-25s will benefit from the new deal. In my constituency, the vast majority of the unemployed are over 25. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that one of the pilot projects to be launched later this year will be in Leicestershire; and that we are still on schedule to get the over-25 unemployed in my constituency back to work as soon as possible?

Mr. Blunkett

Yes, I can confirm that that will be one of the pilots, with Fernley business services. It will provide a way for us to test out the most effective and imaginative ways of ensuring that we put behind us the scourge of allowing people to languish on the unemployment register without the prospect of being able to earn their living.