ONLY 11 ADDITIONAL STAFF MEMBERS HIRED BY NORTHWEST JOB CENTRES SINCE RECESSION BEGAN - STUNELL

11.14.00am GMT Mon 18th Jan 2010

Panic moves by the Government to reverse cuts made to North West Job Centres are insufficient, and have come too late to help many unemployed people locally, according to Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell.

Figures obtained by Mr Stunell show that the government has closed 63 job centres across the North West since 2002, and only eleven additional members of job centre staff have been added in the region during the entire downturn - despite the government pledging to improve help for the unemployed.

Andrew Stunell recently met senior managers to discuss how Job Centre Plus should be delivering help to the 8,190 people on the Register in Stockport, and pledged to press the government for more help.

"The Government's cuts to Job Centres were irresponsible given the current economic climate," said Andrew. "Investing in help for the unemployed is better for everyone - it gets people back into jobs and out of dole queues, and that's exactly what the Job Centres specialise in".

On Wednesday (2nd December) the Employment Minister Jim Knight announced that the government would look to increase the number of Job Centres nationally from the current 750 to 800 over the next five years.

But Andrew Stunell believes that this new promise of help is simply too little, too late for many local people:

"Whilst I will welcome any additional support for the unemployed, the government's words ring hollow. We were promised extra support for job seekers before, but all it produced was the closure of local offices like Marple, and a grand total of an extra eleven staff spread across the whole North West.

"Before the cuts an interview at a Job Centre was booked for 20 minutes. Now interview times have been cut in half, putting staff under extreme pressure, and clearly worsening the service that job seekers get.

"With the recession biting hard, it is vital that unemployed people in Stockport have access to personalised, one to one advice to help them get back on their feet.

"The Minister needs to show some signs of real action, not just words, and I will be pressing the Government hard to provide better and more local support for the Job Centres we already have, to make sure that local job seekers get the help they need now, and not in a year's time."

ENDS