Welfare Reform Bill

Could my noble friend develop one of the points that he has made? I recognise the attractiveness of Jobcentre Plus as a result of the amalgamation of the old employment exchanges and the DSS offices; however, I think I am right that—I am inventing this figure, but it will not be far wrong—fewer than 20 per cent of all job vacancies go through Jobcentre Plus. I may be wrong on that. That is fine when you can rely on three-quarters of all people on JSA going back to work within six months so that there is a churn; in a way, Jobcentre Plus does not need to be much involved in the job-hunting procedure because people can do it themselves. If, however, unemployment continues to rise or the recession continues to deepen, will my noble friend, in response to something that the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, said, think about discussing with officials whether Jobcentre Plus could be encouraged deliberately to widen its reach into the field of job vacancies? I was thinking about the public sector, such as local government or junior jobs in the education service—not necessarily teaching, but the ancillary jobs. The same goes for health authorities. Given the new range of clientele that is coming on to JSA and the need for wider job opportunities to meet those clients’ needs, could senior Jobcentre Plus staff be more proactive so that more jobs were simultaneously advertised in jobcentres as well as individual employers seeking to fill them? There is a big opportunity there. Maybe my noble friend can tell me that we are already doing this, but I am not sure that we are.