Local MP Philip Hammond visits Careers Development Group, calling for a welfare to work shake up

Local Member of Parliament for Runnymeade and Weybridge Philip Hammond has called for more innovation from providers in the welfare to work sector during a successful visit to CDG’s Chertsey centre last Friday.

The shadow secretary to the treasury spoke cordially with staff at the charity about its training approach.

Senior personal advisor at CDG Chertsey, Hayley McMahon welcomed the visit. “It was fantastic that Mr Hammond has come down to see what we do here at the centre and it is very encouraging to our customers,” she said.

Mr Hammond’s visit coincided with last week’s release of the latest unemployment figures by the Office of National Statistics, which reported a 0.3 per cent fall in unemployment figures last quarter.

Phillip Hammond praised the efforts of CDG staff in the difficult economic climate: “It is clear to see that the staff are doing a very good job when obviously there are very difficult market conditions,” he said. “The only way for us to rebuild our economy now is to focus on making it more diverse so that it is more robust in the future.”

Whilst at the centre Mr Hammond also spoke with customers about their difficulties finding work, expressing his concern about the lack of upskilling in the UK. “We have a lot of people who have been doing a job for most of their lives and now there is no demand for the skills that they have. If the UK is going to compete in the global economy it needs to be able to equip these people so that they have skills that are still relevant to employers.”

His visit also highlighted the Conservative Party’s plan to shake up welfare to work programmes by only paying providers for job outcomes. “The good thing about welfare to work is that the outcome is easily measured,” he said.

“We have been very clear about our plans. We are going to break down the artificial divide between the money that is spent on the programme and the money that is saved from benefits from people going into work, so that the savings we make on benefits can be ploughed back into helping more people into work.”

He expressed that more innovation is needed to tackle unemployment. “The more different and diverse approaches we can encourage, the better. I am not convinced that a solution, a programme, a specification devised in DWP is necessary the best way to go. I would like to see a lot of different approaches tried and see which one is the best,” he said.

Richard Holloway a CDG customer, explained how CDG staff had helped him learn valuable new skills. “When I first came to CDG I couldn’t even turn on a computer let alone use one. I can now apply for jobs online, use the internet, I've signed up to a computer course and I am helping other customers with their skills as well.”


 

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