THE MP for Barrow and Furness has invited a senior government figure to visit the area to see the work being carried out in the area to help get people into the labour market.

Simon Fell, the MP for Barrow and Furness has invited the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, to see the efforts being made by the Team Barrow project to tap into the nearly 4000 people in the area who could be in the labour market but are currently not.

As part of the Team Barrow project, the Department for Work and Pensions is working with local employers and skill providers.

Speaking in parliament Mr Fell said: “There are an estimated 4,000 people in Barrow and Furness who could be contributing to the labour market at the moment but aren’t.

“I’m very grateful to my right honourable friend and his team both in the Barrow job centre and centrally who’ve been contributing to a piece of work alongside Team Barrow to try and work with local employers and skill providers to get them back into the market and help our incredibly tight labour market.

“I wonder whether my right honourable friend might be able to pass my thanks on to those teams and also whether I might be able to encourage him to come and visit to see their good work for himself.”

On Facebook Simon Fell said that Furness has a ‘very tight labour market’ driven in part by the growth of the shipyard and that it is ‘substantially’ impacting local employers.

He added that he chairs a forum of small and medium sized businesses that are working to find solutions to these challenges.

Responding in parliament to Mr Fell, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride said: “I thank my honourable friend for raising all the very good work that has gone on in his constituency. I believe that he opened a jobs fair only as recently as January 30 in his constituency and he is a doughty campaigner and supporter of employment in his patch.

“He asks if I will visit his constituency, I would certainly like to consider that, but also perhaps suggest that my honourable friend the employment minister might also come because before I got up, she said she was particularly keen to do so.”