Joblessness panel finds itself put out of work

A PANEL set up to tackle long-term unemployment in Hull has found itself redundant because of the rapid pace of Government reform.

The study was commissioned by the city council in December 2009, but despite a wide-ranging assessment spanning more than 12 months it has failed to make any recommendations after finding its aims and objectives irrelevant.

The report, which will go before the Housing, Economic Development and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Commission tomorrow, concludes: "As outlined elsewhere in the report the aims and objectives of the panel have been largely overtaken by events at national level.

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"Welfare reform and changes to welfare to work programmes will completely reshape the local landscape.

"In view of this the panel does not feel it is in a position to make specific recommendations relating to the council, individual partners or service delivery at this stage."

However, the research, which considered those who have been unemployed for six months or more, does contain some alarming statistics.

It found an almost 100 per cent increase in long-term unemployed claimants in the city over the 12 months from October 2009 to September 2010.

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Understanding the dynamics and drivers behind this will be "critically important" to tackling the problem, the report said.

There was also an alarming and continual rise in the number of people being unemployed for more than a year.

This figure grew month on month, from the 1,140 claimants of February 2009, to 3,935 by September 2010.

The latest national unemployment figures released last week showed record levels of youth unemployment. In Yorkshire and the Humber the jobless total fell, down by 6,000 compared with the previous quarter to 241,000.