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Local authorities can now bid for a share of the £1bn set aside in last month's Budget for councils to create new jobs. Heather Jameson reports Last week, the local government minister, John Healey, and employment minister, Tony McNulty, outlined the process to bid for the £1bn set aside in the Budget for councils to create new jobs. Under the scheme, local authorities have been put at the frontline of the recession, with more power to tackle unemployment and economic issues in their area than ever before. It is a huge step forward for councils which, until now, have worked on their place-shielding measures to beat the recession with no real backing from central government. Now, Whitehall has acknowledged it can't micro-manage jobs from the centre, and has placed its trust in local government to push forward a programme to help the unemployed back into work. Under the plans, the Government is hoping to create 150,000 new jobs, and prevent ‘another generation from ending up on the long-term unemployed scrapheap', as the press release puts it. The Government has admitted that, in this recession at least, the picture of economic downturn looks very different from one area to the next, and as such a it needs local knowledge to address the problems. Paul O'Brien, chief executive of APSE and himself a former local government apprentice at the age of 16, says he believes this is a ‘genuine attempt' by the Government to create jobs. ‘If this money is successful in putting people into employment, that has to be a good thing. ‘There is never enough money put into high-visibility, clean and green services – which also lead to an increase in satisfaction.' This scheme aims to put apprentices into exactly that area. ‘It's a no brainer, really,' he says. Deputy chief executive at Lewisham LBC, Kevin Sheehan, told The MJ, that it would be bidding for the fund. The council is working with other partners in the area, including social enterprises, contractors and the local college. He denies there is a contradiction between the scheme, creating new jobs, and latest figures from the LGA claiming 7,000 jobs have been lost in local government. ‘We haven't made significant redundancies – but that doesn't mean we haven't lost staff through natural turnover. If we plan properly and effectively, we can create significant opportunities for people who are out of work for a short period.' The trick, he says, is agility, and learning to move quickly. ‘I think it's a great initiative by the Government. Ministers have seen we can deliver on these things, and we can deliver quickly,' he says. Director for city regions at Knowsley MBC, Sue Jarvis, says her council is working across the city region with its bid for the cash, and she claims, it is vital that all partners in the area work together. Ms Jarvis claims it is important for people to be able to apply for the job or training they want, not just the one provided by their local authority. The region's bid will focus very much on the individuals involved, not the authorities, and she is determined there will not be big groups of apprentices working together. ‘These jobs will have to be integrated into the employers' workforce,' she says. And while she accepts ‘there will be some unemployed people who will use this as a stepping stone to something else', she is concerned about the end of the training period. ‘What we don't want is people falling off the cliff after six months.' Cambridgeshire, although by no means an unemployment ‘hotspot', is looking at putting forward a bid through its county-wide strategic partnership, Cambridgeshire Together. HR director, Stephen Moir, told The MJ the ‘Future jobs fund' was ‘another avenue' for the council which is already working to help its community cope with the recession. So, where is the catch? It seems that everyone is supportive of the scheme, the application to bid for cash is not too arduous, and it provides a real chance for councils to tackle the economic problems of the area. It appears there isn't one. The training is only funded for six months, but as Mr O'Brien says: ‘It's not enough, but if it is successful, and the apprentices make a difference, people will find a way to keep them.' However, as one local government insider – who did not want to be named – highlighted, where is the Government likely to put the cash in the run up to an election it is likely to loose? In the death throws of this Government, the more cynical observer might expect Labour strongholds to benefit most from the cash. Overall, local government will win far more than it would ever loose. For further details and an application form, go to www.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/futurejobsfund. Applications close at the end of June.

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WHITEHALL

Local solutions for getting communities back to work

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