§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he will announce the commencement date for Project Work work placement providers. [4803]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithI am today refocusing Project Work to include proper training and effective subsidies to employers to take on the long-term unemployed. This will enable Project Work providers to agree the detail of their contracts, including start dates, with the Employment Service.
All Project Work pilots will in future include, as a standard feature, intensive help with basic skills for those who need it. I am also pleased to announce an increase in the amount of Workstart subsidy available in the Project Work pilot areas. This means that employers in these areas who take on someone out of work for over two years may receive £60 for a recruit aged 18 to 24 and £75 if aged between 25 and 50.
Enhancing the help given by Project Work pilots is an integral part of the Government's drive to tackle long term unemployment. It extends a helping hand to the jobless by introducing intensive literacy and numeracy support within Project Work to those who need it. The strengthened basic skills element will help equip long term unemployed people more effectively for jobs.
Project Work as inherited from the previous Government is far from perfect and is scheduled to last until the end of the financial year. We want to move to the New Deal as soon as possible, with the most effective package to help the young and long term unemployed off welfare and into work or training. The refocusing of Project Work with skills enhancement offers the long term unemployed support in getting a job, while the New Deal is still in the design and planning stages.
We cannot allow the talents and energy of our citizens to go to waste, untapped and untrained in unemployment. It makes both moral and economic sense to offer a chance of a future to those who have almost given up hope.