Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing to former workers at Redcar Steel Works to help them find alternative employment.

The Government has announced a package worth up to £80m to support people who have lost their jobs as a result of SSI’s liquidation, and mitigate the impacts on the local economy. The funding will include support for workers to retrain and help for local firms to grow and create jobs. In addition, we have established a locally led task force which has submitted proposals on how it will use this funding which the Department is looking at closely. The task force has quickly mobilised local partners and delivered a successful jobs fair last week which attracted 1817 people and 53 local employers with another one planned for next week.