Last Friday, a tender was published to expand local employment services into four new areas. This would have been welcome had the local employment services been extended based on the existing service, which is community based and not for profit. Instead, the tender proposes a new payment-by-results model similar to that found in JobPath. It proposes the end of the community ethos and person-centred approach taken by the local employment services and job clubs and ends the vital walk-in services for those who are sometimes the furthest away from the labour market. Most damaging of all, the tender is a mirror of the "any job will do" approach that puts profit ahead of people. JobPath has not been a success. The figures speak for themselves in that regard. Why is the Government insisting on moving to payment by results and on what is effectively the privatisation of our job activation schemes, which are community based? The local employment services and job clubs have existed for more than 25 years and have served with distinction.

I would not accept that characterisation. This is a tender to extend local employment services into parts of the country where they do not currently exist. It is an improvement and expansion of services. It is open to a local employment service in one county to tender for the contract to provide services in another county.

Payment by results is not a bad idea. It has proved its worth in other areas. There is considerable variation from one county to the next in the results that local employment services get. Some are very good and some are not so good. Payment by results makes a great deal of sense because it means that we reward the service providers that get the best results and do not continue funding those that do not.