§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the progress of the New Deal in the Greater London area. [79076]
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§ Mr. Andrew SmithResponsibility for the subject of these questions has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Leigh Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 13 April 1999:
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked me to reply to your question about the progress of the New Deal in the Greater London area. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.The New Deal has made an encouraging state in London. Government Statistical Service figures to the end of January 1999 show that in Greater London over 36,000 young people have joined the New Deal. Of these, nearly 6,000 have found unsubsidised jobs. Nearly, 7,000 have joined one of the four New Deal Options with 1,188 joining subsidised employment, 4,081 joining Full Time Education and Training and 1,726 joining the Voluntary Sector and Environment Task Force Options. The majority of remaining entrants are on the Gateway phase of the programme. In the older age group, over 20,000 people have joined the New Deal for long term unemployed people aged 25 or over, of whom over 1,300 have already found jobs and almost 1,000 have already taken up training or education opportunities. Of the remainder the great majority are, as we would expect at this stage, on the advisory phase of the programme.Our aim is to build on this progress through our programme of continuous improvement, working with the New Deal partnerships in each of our Units of Delivery. This work is being supported by the London Employers Coalition which is focusing on continuous improvement and on increasing business participation in New Deal in London.I hope this is helpful.