Employment Minister Praises Scarborough’s Grand Hotel As ‘Great Employer’

Employment Minister Dame Diana Johnson visited Scarborough's Grand Hotel to praise local hospitality businesses and Jobcentres for their collaborative efforts in boosting youth employment.

The minister for employment has said she is ‘incredibly impressed’ by the work of coastal North Yorkshire businesses in supporting young people to find jobs.

Dame Diana Johnson, the Minister for Employment, has praised hospitality businesses in Scarborough and Whitby for working with local Jobcentres to help young people with training and employment opportunities.

On a visit to the historic Grand Hotel on Thursday, July 16, looking over the spa town’s serene South Bay, Ms Johnson said she understood that “finding employment can be difficult” but defended the Government’s track record and said:

“I think we’ve got an excellent Jobcentre here”.

During the visit, she was urged to cut red tape to make it easier for employers to hire staff.

Around 17 per cent of ‘opportunities’ in Scarborough are in the hospitality sector – double that of other parts of the country – she noted. Around 3.1 per cent of people aged 16-64 in the Scarborough and Whitby constituency claim unemployment benefits.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), she said:

“I’ve been incredibly impressed today talking to local employers about their relationship with the local Jobcentre.

“Here, in the Grand Hotel, they’ve got a really positive relationship with the Jobcentre in terms of recruiting staff that they need perhaps on a seasonal basis.”

The minister added that she had been speaking to other employers, including the Blue Dolphin Holiday Park, which holds “interviews at the Jobcentre regularly to get staff, and they see that as really positive as well”.

She added:

“That has been really impressive to see in the hospitality sector, which I’m particularly focused on today.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said this week that Labour has to stop “simply writing a cheque” for health and disability benefit claimants and would provide more job support instead.

Asked if she agreed with Mr McFadden, she said:

“He’s my boss, so of course, I agree with what Pat says.”

Andrew Tunstall, general manager at the Grand Hotel in Scarborough, said he works very closely with the local Jobcentre and regularly takes on trainees and staff as well as giving jobseekers interview opportunities and feedback.

He said, adding:

“It’s been brilliant, because the Jobcentre knows what we’re looking for and what we want. So, when staff do come here, they’ve already been through pre-screening, they’ve had the interview process, they already know what the roles are, and I think that makes it much easier.”

Asked if he had any feedback for the employment minister on making it easier for employers to fill roles, he told the LDRS:

“I think we just need to look at some of the red tape that we’ve got as an industry.

“Hospitality in general is in crisis right now, and I think some of those barriers need to be removed to allow us to recruit and actually increase employment in the sector.”

Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, highlighted the importance of “offering opportunities to people with neurodiversity and other additional needs, which the Grand Hotel does”.

She said:

“I really champion that, because I think we need more supported employment, more supported internships.

“It’s not enough for us to say we’ve got a problem with NEETs (not in education, employment, or training), we actually have to look at how we’re going to support people into the workplace.”

Asked if she thought the Government was doing enough to support young people in Scarborough out of unemployment, Ms Hume told the LDRS:

“I think we’re doing a lot.

“We have the Youth Guarantee, and if they don’t have work after 18 months, we’ll support them and pay for them.”

She added:

“We do need to break down that feeling that going into the Jobcentre is somehow a bad thing and it’s all about getting your benefits cut.

“We want to see the Jobcentres and their job coaches working really hard to help people into work.”