Danny Alexander (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobs she expects to be created under the Future Jobs Fund in (a) Scotland, (b) the Highlands and (c) Inverness in the next 12 months; and what categories of job she expects to be created.

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

The Future Jobs Fund is creating 150,000 jobs across the UK, depending on the quality of the bids received. There is no specific allocation of numbers to Scotland, the Highlands or Inverness. In total 3,359 jobs have been funded for the six months from October 2009 to March 2010 in Scotland. The first round of awards is initially for delivery over a six month period. Of these, 1,452 jobs will be created by the bids from SCVO, Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Salvation Army and may include jobs in the Highlands and Inverness. However, it is not yet possible to specify job numbers in individual areas. The bidding process is ongoing and in the future we may receive other bids to create jobs in these regions.

The types of jobs being created are: warehouse assistants; stores and workshop assistants; drivers; retail and sales assistants; furniture assembly and production; conservation; landscaping; footpath construction; residential; and, family and day care assistants.