§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment the Government have made of regional variations in the performance of the New Deal; and if he will make a statement. [109280]
§ Ms JowellThe overall success of the New Deal does not mean that variations in levels of performance will not arise. This is inevitable in the short run and reflects the range in the client group and labour market conditions in some localities. We are always striving to improve performance and build on success. We have a strategy in place for continuous improvement which enables us to monitor performance against a range of measures and develop plans for improvement. By involving locally based partnerships in delivery we are ensuring that the programme design is relevant to local needs and will continue to offer unemployed people the best route into employment.