3 Apr 2009
The Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy, held a summit meeting in Lanarkshire today to discuss the current challenges facing the local economy. The summit, attended by local MPs Tommy McAvoy, Jim Hood, Tom Clarke and Frank Roy, North and South Lanarkshire Councils, local Colleges and business representatives and trade unions, made significant progress in identifying what action has and can be taken to help the area through the downturn.
Jim Murphy said:
"The most important and pressing challenge for us all, is to maintain the collective confidence of business and the self confidence in people. It is the responsibility of both National and local Government and of our partner organisations to rise up to that challenge and I am confident that today's summit will be the first step on the road to creating a generational legacy for Lanarkshire".
The meeting focussed on the work that partner agencies are already doing to support the local economy and on identifying ways to improve joint working to help move through these unprecedented times. North and South Lanarkshire Council's who are both bringing forward capital expenditure projects to shore up the local construction industry, also agreed to collate information together to provide an evidence base for what is happening across Lanarkshire.
Lanarkshire Jobcentre Plus also informed the meeting that they now have funding to offer the Rapid Response Service to every employer notifying redundancies of 20 or fewer (this service was previously only available to employers making redundancies of 20 or more). The agency works with Skills Development Scotland and offers support that can include matching people to job vacancies, helping them with job search skills and techniques and providing on-site jobs fairs. Recent changes to the benefit rules also means that people can undertake training courses of up to 8 weeks whilst receiving their entitlements. Job Centre plus are also creating 130 jobs in their offices throughout Lanarkshire.
A core message from the summit was that businesses need more help in gaining access to credit from the banks. The Scottish Secretary committed to ensuring that he would do all he could to ensure that banks lend to businesses throughout Lanarkshire.
Mr Murphy said:
"Access to credit for small and medium sized businesses is key to ensuring that we keep our economy flowing. Obtaining real time information from the people directly affected by these issues is crucial and I will ensure to raise this at the next meeting of the National Economic Council - chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by both the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Business".
The UK Government is providing Real Help Now all around the country to help the economy come through the recession sooner, stronger and fairer. The Scottish Secretary will be visiting other areas of Scotland in the coming months to see in action the practical measures that have been introduced to help support businesses, the voluntary sector and the Scottish workforce through these challenging times.