news
UNEMPLOYMENT RISES SHARPLY IN JANUARY IN SOUTH WEST BEDFORDSHIRE
23 February 2010
The unemployment claimant count in South West Bedfordshire rose sharply again in January to 2,409 according to figures released last week. This is only 3 less than the highest recorded claimant count in South West Bedfordshire in the last thirteen years of 2,412 in April 2009. The most recent Incapacity Benefit (including Employment and Support Allowance) count in South West Bedfordshire is also the highest it has been in the last seven years at 2,940.
South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous said “ These are very worrying figures and show that there is no room for complacency as was suggested by deputy regional minister Bob Blizzard last month. He needs to explain why the unemployment claimant count is 70% higher in South West Bedfordshire than when Labour were first elected. Unemployment has also risen much more sharply in South West Bedfordshire over the last two years than in the rest of the United Kingdom. I know that many workers from Norbert Dentressangle lost their jobs locally last month and are finding it tough to get work.”
“What we need locally from the Government is not orders to build more houses than any other Council in the East of England and a six and a half year delay since the 9 July 2003 announcement of the A5-M1 link, since when not a single shovel has hit the ground, but a determined focus on economic regeneration and getting people back to work.”
“In particular I am calling for action on business rates for smaller businesses and shops given the number of empty shops in some of our local towns and I raised this again with Communities and Local Government officials this morning. In addition we need personalised help, straight away for those with serious barriers to work and at six months for those under 25, unlike Labour’s proposals where this is not mandatory for young people until 10 months of unemployment. The Conservatives would only pay providers who got people into work for a year, not the 26 weeks which the Government’s flexible New Deal stipulates.”
“We will also provide a new generation of technical schools open to all students from the age of 14, 200,000 additional apprenticeships, 100,000 additional FE College places which would help Central Bedfordshire College, 100,000 work pairings and over 40,000 young apprenticeships, as well as 10,000 new University places to cope with this year’s crisis in University applications. We are also determined to reverse the UK’s disastrous 31% fall in its share of world exports under Labour when Germany increased its share of world exports by 5% during this period. We will harness our world class University science and engineering departments to generate a major expansion of high tech product development and task ministers to develop trading relationships with key markets.”
