Date: 10th March 2004
Released by: ANDREW TURNER

Isle of Wight MP Andrew Turner together with the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) have launched a parliamentary petition to save the threatened Shanklin Job Centre. It is claimed that the current Victorian building does not meet access requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and is not suitable for delivering the new JobCentre Plus initiative which combines traditional Jobcentre services together with benefit advice for people seeking work. JobCentre Plus managers based in Winchester want to close down the service at Shanklin forcing users of the service to travel to Ryde or Newport in future.

Geoff Lumley of PCS said,
“My members want to continue offering this service in Shanklin, even where in some cases it would be more convenient for them to work from Newport or Ryde. Their clients tell them how much they appreciate being able to access these services locally and how difficult and expensive it would be to travel further afield. JobCentre Plus managers seem intent on taking away services from people, many of limited means and often reliant on public transport in order to suit their wishes. Shanklin Job Centre is needed – and it should stay. PCS working with Andrew Turner were recently able to attract a national service to the Island which saved 70 jobs at risk at Broadlands – we shall work just as hard now to ensure that people from the South East Wight will continue to get the services they deserve. I urge everyone who is interested to sign the petition to show the strength of their feelings.”

Mr Turner who is waiting clarification on a number of points from JobCentre Plus in Winchester welcomed the parliamentary petition and went on to say
“I have heard no reports of people with mobility problems experiencing difficulties using the current building as the staff at Shanklin have adopted the very sensible arrangement of going downstairs to talk to people who have difficulty in going upstairs. One of the stated objectives of JobCentre Plus is to improve the accessibility for all their users and achieve the best possible outcome for them. It is sheer lunacy to suggest that ‘accessibility’ will be improved by making people travel from Shanklin and Ventnor to Ryde or Newport rather than examine ways of overcoming the difficulties of offering the service locally. It seems that JobCentre Plus is more interested in finding the ‘best possible outcome’ for themselves rather than their users. We were able to attract to Broadlands one of only two national centres processing National Insurance numbers, thereby safeguarding the jobs of 70 constituents - this shows the power of working together for the good of the Island and I do hope that this campaign will result in similar success.”

END

Further details : Petition forms will be available at shops and businesses in the area, may be downloaded as a Word document from www.islandmp.com or telephone 244244 for forms to be sent to you.

All forms must be returned to PCS by 31st April. Mr Turner will then arrange for the petition to be presented to Parliament – if possible in the presence of local PCS representatives.