LISTEN:Future of eight Job Centre Plus offices in Glasgow up for debate

We should learn more about the Department for Work and Pensions plans to close eight Job Centre Plus offices in Glasgow later.

Damian Hinds, the Minister of State for Employment has been called to give evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster today to clarify a timetable for closures and whether other areas in Scotland will also be affected.

The Committee will ask the Minister to clarify his plans and set out how he reached the decision. Will he be consulting those affected, both job seekers and staff? How will job seekers be supported in the future?

Pete Wishart is the Committee chair:

Other witnesses providing an insight into the situation in Glasgow include Stewart Malcolm McDonald MP, Citizens Advice Bureau, Church of Scotland and the PCS Union.

“We will be speaking to Damian Hinds, the Minister for Employment, on Wednesday and will want to know what consultation he has carried out with job seekers or staff to help him understand the consequences of this move? When will the full details be revealed? If closures in Glasgow are replicated throughout the country, many rural areas will have no access to face-to-face support at all. The Minister must demonstrate that the support will be there or reconsider his plans.”

Committee chair Pete Wishart added: “The Scottish Affairs Committee planned this session to investigate the impact of up to eight Job Centre Plus offices closing in the city. Now that these plans seem to have been extended to the rest of Scotland and the UK the issue has become even more pressing. Parliament has been told that this would not result in any redundancies in Glasgow. That promise has not been extended to the wider closures. We will be seeking assurances that Jobcentre Plus staff in Glasgow and Scotland will be treated fairly.

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