§ Mr. Stephen TwiggTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what new measures he is taking to help the adult long-term unemployed. [93160]
§ Mr. Andrew SmithWe consulted widely on new Employment Zones with personal job accounts (PJAs) earlier in the year. I am today launching our invitation to tender to run the new Zones at a conference in London. A copy of the bidding procedures will be placed in the Library. There will be 12 Zones in England, two in Wales and one in Scotland, which will help 48,000 long-term unemployed people in areas where the problem still exists despite the improvement in the economy. The new Zones will offer both those who run them and those who benefit from them real flexibility in the way existing funds are used to move from benefits to employment. After a first step lasting no more than three months, those who have not left the register will move on to a personal job account with a fully costed action plan agreed between participants and their personal advisers. Personal job accounts will enable unemployed people to take more responsibility for their path back to employment. We intend to run Employment Zones in the following areas from April 2000: Brighton and Hove; Birmingham; Brent; Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil; Doncaster; Glasgow; Haringey; Liverpool and Sefton; Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland; Newham; North West Wales; Nottingham City; Plymouth; Southwark and Tower Hamlets.