MP Chris Evans calls for rethink over jobcentres

Jobcentres should be replaced by community corporations bringing residents and businesses together to create jobs, an MP has said.

Islwyn MP Chris Evans claimed 34 different schemes since the 1970s have failed to tackle long-term and youth unemployment.

Jobcentre Plus was established in 2002 to provide support for jobseekers.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it has helped 10,000 people into work in Wales over the past year.

But Mr Evans told BBC Wales' Sunday Politics Wales programme that successive Conservative and Labour governments have not been radical enough in their approach to welfare reform.

He claimed previous work programmes such as the former Youth Training Programme (YTS) in the 1980s and Labour's New Deal in the 1990s have not been effective.

Parliamentary debate

"We're trying the same old tired solutions over and over again and getting the same results and I think it needs to change," he said.

Claiming that Jobcentre Plus is "not fit for purpose", he will argue in a Parliamentary debate on Tuesday that it should be abolished.

Instead, he will suggest the budget is used to contract services from charities and recruitment agencies with a proven record.

"Jobcentre Plus at the moment represents for a number of people somewhere they go to be sanctioned - it is not somewhere to go to find work," Mr Evans added.

But a statement from the DWP said it provides "an internationally respected service" which is "tailored to personal and local labour market needs".

"Every single day, Jobcentre Plus is helping thousands of people change their lives for the better, and over the past year there are 10,000 more people in work in Wales," a spokesman said.

"Of those who leave Jobseeker's Allowance to take up a job, three quarters are in work after eight months - that is a record of success."

Mr Evans urged the Labour party to take a radical approach and said: "For too long we opposed welfare reform rather than suggesting different solutions."

He added: "I think we lost the election because we went into the comfort zone. We have now got to talk about things we're uncomfortable about otherwise we're not going to look like a credible alternative government."

Sunday Politics Wales is on BBC1 Wales on 5 July at 11:00 BST