12 December 2008
By Paul Dicken
The Flexible New Deal back-to-work schemes will continue to focus on people who have been out of work for a long time despite rising unemployment, the employment minister has told MPs.
Tony McNulty told the work and pensions select committee on December 10 that the FND, a new commissioning regime beginning in October 2009 for private and third sector organisations to deliver services, was and would continue to be focused 'on the core of long-term unemployed. The fluctuations in the labour market weren't an overwhelming consideration, not least because, over a five-year contract, any fluctuations work themselves out.'
Responding to a question from Labour MP Anne Begg about whether the economic downturn meant there should be a focus on newly unemployed people, McNulty said both areas were important. 'If we learnt anything from the past, we do not leave the hardest to help in a corner somewhere, parked, and say we'll get back to you when the economic conditions are better,' he said.
History had shown that the longer people were away from the labour market, the harder it was for them to find work, he added.
The minister said that the commissioning policy would provide the flexibility and personalisation that the department was looking for.
Jobcentre Plus had been boosted with around 8,000 extra staff to cope. These included 6,000 new staff and just over 2,000 employees who had worked on the transition from Incapacity Benefit to the new Employment & Support Allowance.
He said that 'any further closures or rationalisations should be put on hold for a couple of years given the downturn'.
PFdec2008
