Call for return of Tavistock Jobcentre

AN MP has called for return of Job Centre services in Tavistock as unemployment rises.

Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon, today has urged the Government and Jobcentre Plus to restore services to Tavistock.

Since the centre was closed in March 2008, local people have had to travel to Plymouth in order to gain access to benefits and services.

Mr Cox said that this year unemployment has soared in the constituency by 68.5 per cent.

Mr Cox said: "Every week, I receive letters and emails from hard-pressed people in West Devon who are being forced to travel all the way to Exeter or Plymouth to get help, an expense that many can ill afford.

"The Government was grossly irresponsible to close the Tavistock Jobcentre in the first place, but I shall continue to press for a service that saves local people from travelling great distances wherever possible."

Mr Cox recently wrote to the regional director of Jobcentre Plus, Michelle Maslen, urging the setting-up of an outreach service in Tavistock.

In response, he has been told that a review will be carried out and efforts will be made to set up the service.

The MP, who opposed the closures last year, recently tabled a series of parliamentary questions pressing the government to reconsider its withdrawal of jobcentres from market towns. He intends to raise the issue again in Parliament soon.