EMPLOYMENT Minister Andrew Smith has described Oxfordshire company Unipart as a blueprint for the Government's New Deal programme for the jobless.

Mr Smith, MP for Oxford East, and the chief executive of the Employment Service, Leigh Lewis, visited the company to meet Unipart's six New Deal employees.

Four of the six, who have been working as trainees for five months, have been offered jobs with the company.

Rob Thomas, who had not had a full-time job since leaving school six years ago, said: "I was quite nervous when I first started with Unipart Yutaka Systems as I had been out of work before I joined, but it has all worked out fine and I have just been offered a full-time job."

Unipart's Buddy programme, giving New Deal trainees a colleague to support and advise them, has been particularly successful. Mr Smith said Unipart was "at the forefront of the work being undertaken on the New Deal".

Mr Lewis said: "Unipart has much to show us about the commitment that companies need to make to the New Deal."

Unipart announced increased sales and profits in the first six months of the year. Turnover hit £565.5m - ahead of expectations - and pre-tax profits rose by 20 per cent to £15.5m.

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