Press, Welfare to Work

Work and Pensions Committee, announces NEW INQUIRY

27 July 2010

For Immediate Release:

AN03 2010–11

NEW INQUIRY

Youth Unemployment and the Future Jobs Fund

The Future Jobs Fund (FJF) was announced in the 2009 Budget as a part of the Young Person’s Guarantee. Funding of around £1 billion was pledged, to be spent between October 2009 and March 2011, to support the creation of 150,000 temporary jobs, primarily for 18-24 year olds who had been out of work for at least six months. As part of the March 2010 Budget, the scheme was extended for another year to March 2012

DWP statistics show that in the first four months of the scheme (October 2009 to January 2010), 8,660 DWP claimants started a FJF job (of which 5,920 were aged between 18 and 24).

The Coalition Government announced in May that it would cancel the extension of the FJF, and that it would now run until March 2011. DWP is not accepting any further bids, but existing guarantees will still be met.

The Work and Pensions Committee has decided to conduct a short inquiry into Youth Unemployment and the Future Jobs Fund. Written evidence is invited from interested organisations. The focus of the inquiry will be on:

  • The extent to which the FJF has succeeded in matching new work experience opportunities to young unemployed people
  • Strengths and weaknesses of the FJF programme from the perspective of providers (including in the third sector), employers and young unemployed people, and particularly in relation to the long-term sustainability of employment opportunities
  • The likely impact of the decision to end the FJF in March 2011 rather than March 2012
  • How the transition from FJF to the Work Programme will be managed, including the part to be played by the Government’s proposal to fund new apprenticeships.

The deadline for written evidence is Friday 10 September 2010.

How to submit your evidence

  • Contributors should feel no obligation to comment on all the issues raised above, but should focus on those areas in which they have particular expertise or interest.
  • Please bear in mind that the Committee cannot investigate individual cases.
  • Written evidence should be in Word or rich text format, not PDF format, and sent by email to workpencom@parliament.uk The body of the email must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The email should also make clear who the submission is from. Hard copy submissions should be sent to: The Work and Pensions Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA.
  • Submissions should be in the format of a self-contained piece of written evidence. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include a summary. For further guidance on the submission of evidence see

www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/witness.cfm

  • Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Material already published elsewhere may be referred to within a proposed piece of written evidence, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.
  • Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet (where it will be accessible by search engines) or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
  • For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.


Further information

Committee membership: Miss Anne Begg MP (Chair) (Lab, Aberdeen South), Harriett Baldwin MP (Con, West Worcestershire) Karen Bradley MP (Con, Staffordshire Moorlands), Ms Karen Buck MP (Lab, Westminster North), Margaret Curran MP (Lab, Glasgow East), Richard Graham MP (Con, Gloucester) Kate Green MP (Lab, Stretford and Urmston), Mr Oliver Heald MP (Con, North East Hertfordshire), Sajid Javid MP, (Con, Bromsgrove), Stephen Lloyd MP (Lib Dem, Eastbourne), Shabana Mahmood MP (Lab, Birmingham, Ladywood)

Specific Committee Informationworkpencom@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 5832

Media Information: Laura Humble  humblel@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 8430

Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/workpencom

Watch committees and parliamentary debates onlinewww.parliamentlive.tv

Publications/Reports/Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).  Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

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