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Welfare Reform Bill

I believe it to be the case that part of the operation of Jobcentre Plus is to have teams who do go out into the economy to see what vacancies are available. They are in touch with employers, particularly major employers, partly to engage with those who can assist with specific programmes that Jobcentre Plus is involved in. There is that process and there are the people whose job it is to see what is happening out there in the market. I am sure, as I said, that more can be done, but there are also processes—particularly with some of the newly unemployed, who in a sense do not necessarily need the support and motivation that others would need to access the job market—to get external support and advice as well. These processes are under way. The noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, referred to the departmental expenditure plan. I do not have the benefit of having the tables to which he referred in front of me, but perhaps I may say something on the generality of the resources available to Jobcentre Plus. As he may recall from previous debates, both in the Pre-Budget Report and in the Budget very significant additional resources were made available to the DWP for the tasks of Jobcentre Plus in tackling unemployment, particularly to support the Flexible New Deal and the programmes that are already under way. I think that it was £1.7 billion over the CSR 07 period and something like £1.3 billion in the Budget earlier this year. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, referred to the fact that we have fewer staff now than we used to. Yes, and we have fewer offices than we used to. That is part of the programme to address the very issue he highlighted of people having to give the same sort of details time and time again. Jobcentre Plus has been focused on getting more effective processes in place. Therefore, until recently that has meant fewer staff overall—I will come on to that point—and fewer offices. A more extensive office closure plan was proposed but a moratorium has been put on that. I think that 25 offices were identified which are now not currently to be the subject of closure. In recent times we have already recruited some 5,000 more staff, and are aiming to recruit 2,000 per month into 2009-10.