§ Mr. CongdonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what progress she has made on the contract for work pilot; and if she will make a statement. [9271]
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardIn November I announced that the Department would be introducing pilots to explore ways in which the talent for innovation of the private sector might be used to help unemployed people back to work. The Chancellor announced in his Budget speech that these pilots would be called contract for work.
The aim of the pilots will be to test the cost effectiveness of the private sector in getting long-term unemployed people back to work and to test specific approaches to that task. The pilots will have an incentive-based funding structure which rewards success.
There will be two private sector contract for work pilots, each covering around 3,000 people. Another 6,000 people will be placed on programmes run by the Employment Service, to provide an additional measure against which the performance of the private sector can be judged. The pilots will last for 12 months and participants will be referred to them for a maximum of six months. The pilots will start in the spring and invitations to tender should be issued by mid-February.
317WOn locations for the pilots, I have decided that the private sector interest should be explored across four major cities, including Manchester, London, Glasgow and Birmingham. A final decision will be made according to the quality of bids received. Before invitations to tender are issued, my officials will initiate a series of discussions with a range of organisations to draw on their expertise and experience in considering detailed design issues.
Through these pilots we will provide an opportunity for the long-term unemployed to work directly with the private sector, an approach which I hope will be mutually beneficial. I believe that these pilots will be a welcome and necessary addition to the help that already exists for unemployed people.