HC Deb 11 April 2002 vol 383 c573W
Mr. Kevan Jones (North Durham)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on measures being taken to reduce unemployment in the north-east. [44530]

Ruth Kelly

Figures recently announced show that the employment level is at 28,232 million, and the claimant unemployment level stands at 951,000. Claimant unemployment stands at 5.3 per cent in the North East and in North Durham it is down by 44 per cent. since 1997. The New Deal has been a contributing factor to these reductions in unemployment.

In particular New Deal for young people has been successful in its four years of operation; it has placed over 340,000 18–24 year olds into work. 27,858 individuals have been placed into work in the North East. The New Deal for 25 plus and the enhanced programme (since April 2001) has helped a further 92,000 long-term unemployed people into work. For the North East region, 4,934 individuals have moved into employment and since the enhanced programme 1,616 individuals.

Action teams are in place to help individuals into employment, as well as Employment zones. For instance, within the North East region these have been launched in Stockton and Middlesbrough RC.

To build on this performance, the Government has introduced further measures to increase the effectiveness of the New Deal and other employment programmes, including: Piloting greater flexibility in the Options section of NDYP from November 2001 to give personal advisers more freedom to tailor the provision of support to meet the needs of the individuals, local employers and local labour markets; Establishing a pilot mentoring scheme from January 2002 to assess how mentoring can best be used to improve employment chances and job retention under the New Deal; Step-up a new programme of transitional employment pilots will, from April 2002 target our hardest to help clients who have not been able to find a job through the New Deal are going to be in place for instance in, Knowsley and Lambeth areas. People who take up these jobs will receive individual support so that they can eventually make the transition to unsupported jobs in the open labour market; To support those communities affected by large-scale redundancies, the Government is allocating additional resources to strengthen the Job Transition Service over the next two years; and The Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) is helping to make work pay for low to middle income families' with children. Nearly 1.3 million families with children are currently receiving the WFTC, around 400,000 more than received its predecessor, Family Credit. On average these families are receiving £35 a week more on WFTC than under Family Credit.