2 April 2007 - £32 million for cities to tackle worklessness – Hutton
Fifteen areas across Britain will be given £32 million in a groundbreaking scheme to give local areas more control over plans to tackle worklessness, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton announced today.
The 15 areas, which have been chosen as pathfinders in the Cities Strategy, will get direct control of £32 million from the Government’s Deprived Areas Fund after devising their own plans and targets to help people get the support they need to find work. They will also have a key role in shaping the delivery of the Government’s flagship Pathways to Work programme to help people off incapacity benefit, have access to improved data-sharing, and a greater ability to influence the provision of training opportunities and employment programmes at a local level.
Mr Hutton announced today that the areas would be eligible to receive additional reward funding if they are successful in meeting their targets to get people back to work.
Speaking at a back-to-work scheme in Brent which is part of the West London pathfinder, John Hutton said:
“We launched the Cities Strategy because local people and local groups know best how to tackle the problems of worklessness in their area. The 15 areas involved in the scheme have come up with their own new ideas to get people back to work, so I am very pleased today to be able to announce that they will receive £32 million from the Deprived Areas Fund to carry out their plans.
“And because local areas deserve to share fully in the benefits to the wider economy of getting more people off benefit and into work, I am committing today to give further rewards to those areas who are successful in tackling worklessness.
“We are determined to end deprivation in our cities and support communities where everyone has the opportunity to work. Devolving more control to cities and local areas so they can work in partnership with government is crucial to doing that.”
The 15 Pathfinders, appointed last year, have all set up consortia comprising government agencies, providers, local government and the private and voluntary sector, to work together and pool resources. They will now work with the Department for Work and Pensions to set binding targets by the end of May.
Notes to editors
- John Hutton announced the Government’s City Strategy initiative at a summit in London’s Smithfields on 9 May 2006.
- The two London City Strategy Pathfinder areas, East and West London, were announced in April 2006. The13 other successful areas were announced in July 2006. These are: Birmingham, Blackburn, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heads of the Valleys, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Rhyl, Sheffield, and Tyne and Wear.
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