§ Mr. LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (I) what are the circumstances which led to the decision to close the job club at the Walkden jobcentre;
(2) if there are any plans to offer alternative job club facilities in the Walkden are a consequent upon the recent closure of the job club at Walkden jobcentre.
§ Mr. Nicholls[holding answers 16 June 1989]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my Friend the Member for Bury, North (Mr. Burt) on 27 January 1989, at column 810 in which I announced that we would be able to increase numbers helped by job clubs while streamlining the network.
The job club located in the jobcentre at Walkden closed on 28 April 1989. A second job club in Walkden remained open and had enough spare capacity to take on members from the job club which closed. There is also a job club in nearby Swinton.