�120m contract promises 200 jobs

The Wise Group has secured the contract for the flexible New Deal

The group awarded a £120m contract to deliver the government's flexible New Deal programme in southern Scotland has said it would create up to 200 jobs.

The Wise Group and its partners have secured a five-year deal to run the scheme to help get people back to work.

They estimate another 150 to 200 jobs would be created with sub-contractors.

The contract covers Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Inverclyde, Lanarkshire, East Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh, Lothians and the Scottish Borders.

Wise Group chief executive Laurie Russell said they were delighted to secure the deal.

Innovative projects

"We are consistently in the UK top five in delivering the government's current New Deal programme, which is being replaced by flexible New Deal," he said.

"We believe it is our ability to deliver unrivalled quality, cost effectiveness and social return with our innovative projects that led the government to award the Wise Group the FND contract for Scotland."

Flexible New Deal replaces the government's various New Deal employment programmes with a single scheme.

The programme aims to provide more tailored back-to-work support to jobseekers, and pays providers by results.

Phase one of flexible New Deal will be operating across half the UK from October this year.