Is the Worklessness Assessment separate from the new Economic Assessment Duty?
The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill will place a new duty on county councils and unitary authorities to prepare an economic assessment of their area. The new duty is expected to come into effect in April 2010 and it will form part of the evidence base for the preparation of the new regional strategies. The Government will publish draft guidance on the new duty later this year when the Bill has received Royal Assent. This will, among other things, set out the key issues that the Government believes all local economic assessments should address in order to get a comprehensive picture of local economic conditions. In that context, the guidance will encourage local authorities to use their local economic assessment to assess the nature and scale of worklessness in their area and identify those barriers preventing people getting back to work. Those local authorities that have carried out an assessment of worklessness as part of their bid for the Future Jobs Fund
