Inner Cities (Hansard, 9 March 1989)

§ Mr. Fowler

My Department makes a substantial contribution to inner city regeneration through its employment, training and enterprise programmes and the special initiatives that we already fund as part of the action for cities programme.

We now plan to fund a range of further initiatives which build on our existing services and extend them further to help even more people in the inner cities.

Progress on the existing school/industry compacts has been excellent. Thirty bids for development funding were accepted in August 1988 and the first four applications for operational funding—Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry and Hull—have now been approved. Other applications will be considered shortly. We will now be inviting bids for up to a further 10 compacts (nine in England and one in Scotland) from partnerships of employers and education authorities.

I am anxious that more unemployed inner city residents should have the opportunity of training designed to help meet emerging skill shortages. In 10 inner city areas we will therefore pilot an initiative in employment training to allow people who have been unemployed for between three and six months to join the programme in addition to the existing eligible groups.

I am also concerned to improve the job opportunities for people who have been out of work for six months or more. As an extension of the restart process we will therefore pilot a job interview guarantee in 20 inner city areas. It will offer employers a comprehensive range of ways, including short work trials, to choose the right people for their jobs. In return for the enhanced service they will be offered, employers will enter into formal agreements with the employment service in which they guarantee to interview long-term unemployed clients.

I am convinced that these new initiatives announced today will help to enhance the valuable work already being undertaken by my Department in the inner cities.