Theresa May (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Also Shadow Minister for Women), Work and Pensions; Maidenhead, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions over what time period each of the proposals successful in the Future Jobs Fund bidding round which concluded in July 2009 will operate; and how many and by what date jobs will be created under each scheme.

Jim Knight (Minister of State (the South West), Regional Affairs; South Dorset, Labour)

There is a rolling grant award process, with bidding rounds closing at the end of every month. There were 117 successful bidders for the initial bidding round which closed on 30 June. These bids will create jobs between October 2009 and March 2011.

There were 30 successful bidders for the second bidding round and 18 for the third round.

From the first bidding round, the Government are granting funding now only for jobs that will start between October 2009 and March 2010. The Government have so far granted funding for approximately 31,000 jobs on this basis. We will then assess performance of the Future Jobs Fund before extending grants. We will be undertaking these performance reviews in late 2009 and early 2010. In total, successful bidders in the first round had bid for approximately 75,000 jobs over the period October 2009 to March 2011, although it is not possible at this stage to state precisely how many of these further jobs will be funded after the performance reviews have concluded.

In total 150,000 new jobs will be created under the Future Jobs Fund between October 2009 and March 2011, of which 100,000 will be for young people. The other 50,000 will be in employment hotspots, and will also be open to young people in those areas.