Why employment minister Alison McGovern keeps two sticks of Blackpool rock on her office desk
Employment minister Alison McGovern has explained why she keeps two sticks of Blackpool rock on her desk and why the town is so important to her.
The minister was being interviewed by Coco Khan, hosting Pod Save the UK, about unemployment among young people in Britain, when she was asked about some objects on her office desk.
One was a ‘red box’, one of the despatch boxes primarily used by ministers to hold and transport official government papers. The others were pieces of the resort’s famous confectionery.
The North West MP, who grew up on the Wirrall and represents Birkenhead, told Coco: “ When you come in on your first day as a minister in the government department, they do actually give you a red box. And I mean, that is kind of an amazing moment.
“But hilariously, next to my red box are two pieces of Blackpool rock. And the reason for that is because Blackpool has the worst employment statistics.
“So every day in my office, my Blackpool rock sits next to my Minister for Employment red box so that I can remember what it's all about. They were given to me by some of our work coaches in Blackpool Jobcentre.”
The minister visited Blackpool Jobcentre in September last year, when she said: “I think Blackpool is in a difficult situation with regards to employment, we have a lot of people out of work, and particularly a lot of people out of work because they’re not well.
“However, Blackpool is a fantastic place, there’s so much opportunity here, whether it is the fun that people have, or exciting things like the arts and culture scene, there are so many opportunities here.
“What we’ve got to do is bring those opportunities to make sure that people can get them. And that’s where the Job Centre comes in.
“At the moment the Job Centres are an unloved public service, no one wants to come here and that’s because there is too much of a tick-box culture, we have pointless ten minute appointments.
“What we want to do is change that, reform it to make sure people can get real help here.”
And in February this year, Ms McGovern visited the resort’s Jobcentre again , saying: “The claimant count unemployment for Blackpool's young people is double the national average, so the problems the country has are represented here in Blackpool.
"The thing I feel really strongly though is when you speak to Blackpool employers as I have done today, there is so much opportunity here. So we have a situation where we have really big challenges and really impressive opportunities.
"The way I see Job Centres and the work we are trying to do here today, is like it has got to be the jam in the middle of the sandwich and bring those opportunities together with people who have been overlooked and out of work for too long. “