(a)

a number of employment related organisations attended the Growth and Prosperity panel 15 months ago to inform the panel on worklessness in Plymouth; recommendations were made to Cabinet that the council should take a greater leading role in the worklessness agenda;

(b)

worklessness occurs when unemployment and economic inactivity existed together in an area;

(c)

the issue of worklessness in Plymouth would be managed in two distinct phases; the first phase would involve analysing the internal policies and procedures for dealing with worklessness; the second phase would be an external outlook to analyse agencies in the field with the aim to gather information and develop a unified approach to worklessness in Plymouth;

(d)

an internal worklessness group was being set up to look at the issue of worklessness – the first meeting would take place in early April 2011;

(e)

there was a known link between deprivation and worklessness;

(f)

focus would be directed to six wards in Plymouth which were considered to be deprived, namely Devonport, Budshead, Ham, St Peter and the Waterfront, Sutton and Mount Gould and Honicknowle;

(g)

it was recognised that there was a problem with worklessness of individuals between the ages 18 – 24;

(h)

there was a known link between experiencing worklessness at a young age and again in later life;

(i)

there was an aim to develop a worklessness document by mid July 2011.

(j)

an analysis of worklessness was focused towards wards other than neighbourhoods because of the officers lack of statistical knowledge of the city and the lack of time to look in depth at different areas of the city;

(k)

it was acknowledged that accessibility in and around Plymouth was an important factor in the worklessness agenda.