The future jobs fund is an important new initiative announced in the Budget 2009 worth £1 billion to create 150,000 new jobs both for young people and individuals living in unemployment hotspots. We are inviting bids from a wide range of organisations and partnerships including those from the sport and creative industries to create valuable jobs that bring real benefits to individuals and their communities.
The previous Secretary of State for Work and Pensions met with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to discuss ways to ensure the sport and culture industries are able to put together strong bids to the fund and deliver jobs in these industries as early as October 2009.
Building on this, officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Work and Pensions have been working closely together to ensure the sport and creative industries play a prominent role in the jobs created through the future jobs fund and we expect to receive a number of bids from organisations in these areas when we start assessing bids from July 2009 onwards.
It is important that we engage with individuals who are approaching long-term unemployment to help them move into fulfilling and valuable employment that will help Britain prepare for economic recovery. The future jobs fund will provide organisations with the funding to do this and make a real contribution to the lives of individuals and their communities.