The Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) programme is described on Business Link's web site and run by Jobcentre Plus. I then went to my local Jobcentre Plus to ask to speak to a
member of staff as advised. I was informed that they no longer dealt with the programme and that to their knowledge no such initiatives were available through Jobcentre Plus at this present time.

I then contacted the number given on BusinesslLink web page, which gave a recorded message saying that the service was no longer available and directing one to contact BusinessLink through their general enquiries number.

I was then directed to various BusinessLink numbers, and received three
different responses from staff:

* that they had never heard of the scheme.
* that it had been canceled on the 30th June this year due to government cuts
* that it was still in operation and that I needed a special number dedicated to the service for more information; this turned out to be the same number that I'd tried before and was no longer in service.

I therefore wrote to the ministerial office of the Department of Work and Pensions (the government office that overseas LEPs, BusinessLink, JobCentre Plus and lots of other similar brandings) to seek clarification as to the programme's current status.

They responded as follows:

"Thanks for your enquiry about the current position of Local Employment
Partnerships. I'm sorry that your enquiry has been passed around
somewhat and hopefully the information below will give you a full
explanation.

To answer your query on Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) - LEPs were
not a programme or a scheme but an approach and a way in which we, in
Jobcentre Plus, work in partnership with employers to create
opportunities for people who are some distance away from the labour
market. Because this way of working is now very much how we do business
with employers, a decision was made in June 2010 to remove the label to
this approach ie. The LEP branding.

We know that LEPs have been successful and the CIPD Recruitment and
Retention Survey 2009 showed that over half of employers surveyed have
changed their recruitment practices as a direct result of LEPs. All the
Jobcentre Plus services for employers that were delivered under the LEP
banner are still very much available, for example Work Trials and
sifting and matching of applications."

In fact this is confirmed at BusinessLink's web site at  http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.lc=en&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1085473879

So there you go, they are apparently not abolished, just now an integral part of how JobCentre Plus operates. It seems strange that no one seems to have informed either the staff at JobCentre Plus or BusinessLink of this. And why was I told with complete certainty that the scheme had been abolished in cuts on June 30th? It seems clear that the left hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing hear, and who's surprised?

Does anyone have any contradictory information?