New figures show Tories have sold out Hartlepool on jobs and apprenticeships - Angela Rayner

New analysis by Labour has exposed the Conservative government’s record of failure on jobs in Hartlepool.

Manufacturing jobs have more than halved, 1,600 skilled jobs have been lost and apprenticeship starts are at a 10-year low in the town.

After a decade of Tory rule in Westminster, statistics show:

• There are 1,600 fewer jobs in skilled trade occupations in Hartlepool than a decade ago, a fall of nearly a third. This includes 500 jobs lost in skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades and 700 jobs lost in skilled manufacturing.
• The number of manufacturing jobs in Hartlepool has more than halved since 2010, with 3,500 jobs lost in the sector.
• Manufacturing jobs for younger workers have fallen by nearly two thirds since 2010.
• House of Commons Library analysis shows that 33 per cent of jobs in Hartlepool are in sectors excluded from the Government’s much-lauded Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which provides post-pandemic training for adults.

Apprenticeship starts are at a 10-year low, with just 720 new starts in Hartlepool. Figures also show:

• The North East has seen the second highest decline in participation in adult education in the last four years, including apprenticeships, and had the lowest number of learners in adult education out of all regions in 2019/20.
• Apprenticeship numbers are down nearly 30 per cent in the last six years in the Hartlepool local authority area.
• The Hartlepool constituency has seen a 13 per cent decrease in apprenticeship starts since 2010.

The figures come ahead of a visit from Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, to the town on Monday. Rayner and Labour’s Parliamentary candidate, Dr Paul Williams, will visit Hartlepool College to meet apprentices.

As part of his plan for Hartlepool, Williams wants to help create new jobs in the town and double apprenticeships through a new Business Leadership Board. The scheme would also guarantee Hartlepool’s first ever annual jobs fair with colleges and local businesses, to be held within a year of his election as MP.

Labour has also called on the Government to intervene to save jobs at Liberty Steel, and to commit to a new nuclear powerplant, securing skilled jobs once the current station is decommissioned.

Speaking ahead of her visit to Hartlepool, Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, said:

“We were promised levelling up but under the Tories the people of Hartlepool have been let down and sold out.

“Dr Paul Williams will deliver the apprenticeships and the good, skilled jobs that we need in the town so that Hartlepool can thrive and young people don’t have to leave to get on in life.

“The choice on May 6^th is clear – a vote for Dr Paul Williams to deliver the good jobs that the people of Hartlepool deserve, or a Tory candidate who will stand back as the Tory government in Westminster fails to deliver for the town.”

Dr Paul Williams said: “These figures show the stark impact of more than a decade of Tory rule on our industry.

“We’ve all seen the evidence that if you’re mates with a member of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, you can be sure of securing lucrative contracts worth millions in taxpayers’ cash.

“Young people in Hartlepool and other manufacturing towns like ours are seeing their opportunities diminish, while the Conservatives carry on putting their cronies first.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Jobs in skilled trade occupations uses Annual Population Survey workplace analysis of the Hartlepool local authority area. Analysis compares employment in Skilled Trades Occupations (major group 5 of the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification) in the years to March 2010 and March 2020.

• The category includes skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades, skilled construction and building trades and skilled textiles and printing trades. It includes jobs like smiths and forge workers, welders, sheet metal workers, vehicle body builders and repairers, electricians, bricklayers, carpenters, tailors and upholsters.

• According to the ONS, these roles require “a substantial period of training, often provided by means of a work based training programme.”

ONS, SOC 2010 manual, https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc/soc2010/soc2010volume1structureanddescriptionsofunitgroups

• Jobs in manufacturing uses Annual Population Survey workplace analysis of the Hartlepool local authority area. Analysis compares employment in manufacturing (defined using the Standard Industrial Classification) in the years to March 2010 and March 2020.

Annual Population Survey, workplace analysis, accessed via nomis, March 2021, https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/summary.asp?mode=construct&version=0&dataset=100

• Figures on apprenticeship starts since 2005/6 can be found at https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06113/CBP06113_constit_tables.xlsx

• Over 9.4 million jobs are in sectors excluded from Boris Johnson’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, House of Commons Library analysis for Labour shows, limiting opportunities for adults to retrain and gain new skills after the pandemic – including 10,200 (33%) in Hartlepool.
• The number of apprenticeships in Hartlepool LA area has declined from 2,445 in 2014/15 to 1,756 in 2019/19, a decline of 689 or 28.2%: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/848363/Apprenticeship_Participation_1415_1819_final_v0.2.xlsx
• The North East has seen the second highest decline in adult education, including skills and apprenticeships. Between 2017/18 and 2019/20 the number of adults participating in further education and skills fell by 37,500 or 25%.
  https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2019-20