The Local Economy

I spent all of my working life before entering Parliament involved in economic regeneration and employment projects. I saw what the Tories did to millions of people in our country and I never want to see mass unemployment destroy communities again.

That is why as well as nationally ensuring that the economy stays strong and employment grows I work hard locally too working with those who can make a difference in Loughborough. This is why I have been so pleased to see unemployment fall to about 1.8% in Charnwood. There are more people in work locally than ever before. I backed the New Deal which has reduced unemployement for U 25s by over 80% in my constituency and for the over 25' unemployed for over 6 months by 79%. In fact thanks to the pressure I put on the government Loughborough was one of the pilot areas for the New Deal for over 50's and will be gain in 2004 when another programme is rolled out.

At the local level I can't create jobs myself so I work closely with the economic regeneration agencies and employers. Even at a local employer level I have encouraged EMA for exemple to hold job fairs in the town when I heard they had hundreds of vacancies and were finding them hard to fill.

I know there are more job vacancies in Loughborough than there are unemployed and this is causing its own problems. That is why I am now working with agencies, colleges and the Leraning & Skills Council to improve training to allow those still unemployed to gain the skills to match to the job vacancies. If we get this right there will be no excuse for unemployment - but it depends on a partnership of individual, local agencies, employers and government. I see it as my job to encourage these partnerships.

I am also aware that there remain geographical unemployment hot spots and amongst key workers and socially excluded groups. Having worked with these groups for years before entering parliament I know there are solutions to breaking these cycles of exclusion. Again I have brought togther agencies and employers to go direct to these wards and groups.
I was one of the first in Parliament to call for the extension of the New Deal to over 25s and in particular the over 50s. In fact Radio 4 took up this story and did a feature - although many did comment that somebody so young shouldn't worry too much about the over 50's. I try to represent all parts of my constituency.

Text of question in parliament:-

Mr. Andrew Reed (Loughborough): While I warmly welcome the fantastic news about the number of young people who are now in employment, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is crucial to bring on line as quickly as possible assistance for those over 25 and, in particular, for people in their 40s who find themselves unemployed? We must accept that manufacturing jobs are being lost. For example, at Ladybird Books in my constituency 200 people will lose their jobs and, as they have been working on machines that are more than 30 years old, it will be extremely difficult for them to find work. Can we ensure that assistance is given to them as quickly as possible, so that they do not have to wait to become long-term unemployed before they get help from the new deal?

Mr. Blunkett: I agree entirely that we need to be able to do that and I look forward to being able to expand on the pilot programmes that I mentioned, which will help 90,000 such individuals. It is a case not simply of the new deal, but of the whole programme from the Employment Service and the Department for Education and Employment, including the rapid response unit, which is moving in quickly where redundancies are declared, and working with the training and enterprise councils, employers and trade unions to ensure that we can immediately move those people into other opportunities for retraining or directly into jobs. Bearing in mind the fact that we face a challenge this winter, the success of that programme was exemplified in yesterday's figures.
The local economy cannot be isolated from the rest of the world in a globalised world economic market. I knwo this is very hard for people to understand who have been brought up on the certainties of the post war period. Today is different and we need to react in different ways.

We have the potential for a strong local economy based on a wide spread of sectors. I know how difficult the transition has been in some sectors like textiles.