11 March 2008

Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP

Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform

Reed in Partnership – 10th Anniversary Reception

Terrace Pavilion, House of Commons

Tuesday, 11th March 2008

[Check against delivery]

 

I am delighted to be here to join the celebration of ten years of “Reed in Partnership”.  I can join in with enthusiasm because I have seen as local MP the company’s work on the Newham Employment zone, but I know there has been a big contribution to helping people into work in a host of areas across the country, and I think that’s an achievement which is well deserving of enthusiastic celebration.

I made my debut appearance on “Any Questions”on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago, and a friend of mine commented that – in almost ten years as a Minister – he had never seen me so apprehensive.  I was certainly very relieved when it was over!  But it was the week when people scaled the roof of the House of Commons to protest about the third runway at Heathrow, and one of the questions was what cause we felt so strongly about that would be prepared to climb on to the roof of the House of Commons for it. 

I said I thought the best reason for climbing on to the roof of the House of Commons was to admire the view, but I wasn’t going to get away just with that, so I went on to say that – for me as an MP and before that a Councillor in East London where unemployment has been a scourge for a long time – the greatest political cause has always been finding ways to help people into work.  Because for people apparently trapped nothing else so transforms prospects and opens up opportunities.  There has been very striking evidence compiled, just over the past couple of years, that being in work makes you better off not just financially, but that it improves your health and wider well being – and that it is very good for your children too.  And that is what “Reid in Partnership” has been engaged in for the past decade – helping people become better off through working. 

We have made good progress over the past ten years in tackling poverty and advancing social justice.  Last month, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell into the 700,000s for the first time since June 1975.  But we need to do more.  We want to unlock the talents of every individual and to remove barriers which hold people back from realising their potential.  We need to open up second chances, with opportunities to learn, develop new skills, enter employment and make progress at work.

We have ambitious goals.   We want to see an employment rate of 80 per cent, up from the current figure just short of 75 per cent and we want to eradicate child poverty.

In 1997 I became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Employment who was preparing for introduction of the New Deal, so – like you – I have followed this from Day One.  You were the first private company in the UK to deliver the New Deal.  Since launch in 1998, the New Deals have transformed employment support, helping over 1.8 million people into work: one person every three minutes, every single day in almost ten years.

But there is more to be done.  We need more employers to offer jobs to those out of work, of course.  And to continue to prosper in a globalised economy, we need everyone who can work to have the skills and the opportunity to work.

The New Deal is ten years old.  It needs to evolve to meet future challenges.  There are fewer unemployed people today – those who were easiest to help are now in work.  The average barriers faced by those still out of work are higher.   We need to tailor what we do to individual needs. 

And we have become much more ambitious about who we believe can work.  Ten years ago, helping people on incapacity benefit into work was thought potentially injurious for their health.  Today, evidence is clear that going into work is often the best way to improve their health. 

Ten years ago, people were wary about requiring single parents to look for work.  Today, we know that it would improve their life chances and lift 70,000 children out of poverty. 

But as well as changing the type of support we offer our customers we are also going to change the way we deliver it.  We want a system where expertise and innovation in private and voluntary sectors blend with the strengths of Jobcentre Plus.

Over the last ten years, there has been a rather sterile debate about whether public or private is right.  The truth, of course, is that both must play an important part.  The question is how we get the best out of them.

Our answer is to personalise the service to the individual by freeing up the provider.   Instead of following a Whitehall diktat, providers will focus on the needs of the person in front of them.  Instead of receiving grants for delivering a process, they will be paid by results.  Instead of telling providers how to do their job, we will hold them accountable for the results they achieve. 

This applies first to our own staff.  Jobcentre Plus is admired around the world.  Policy makers worldwide are copying our merger of job search and benefits advice.  So, we will now free Jobcentres up, and trust their expertise.  We will slim down the rules which apply to our own staff and make space for them to be innovative.

For customers who haven’t found work, we will assign them to specialist providers in the private and voluntary sectors.  Providers will not just be permitted to tailor their approaches to the needs of the individual.  They will be encouraged to do so, because we think that will allow the providers to come up with effective solutions for the people they are working with.

Providers will have incentives to deliver, longer contracts and a growing market.  In return, we will set our expectations high.  And we will move towards joint commissioning of employment alongside skill provision, recognising the close link between the two. 

But we also understand that to get the best out of the private and third sectors, we need a partnership for the long term.  So, let me be clear: these partnerships are here to stay, and they are set to grow.

This is all about changing lives, ensuring that the gains from success in the UK economy over the past ten years are shared by all, that we have a fair economy as well as a strong one.  People’s life chances matter, and you have helped improve the life chances for many.  Thank you for all you have done, congratulations on what you have achieved, and I wish all of you great success in the future.  And have a great evening.

Thank you.