Looking for work? Click here for a FREE TICKET to Harlow Job's Fair

Some good news for Harlow on jobs. Under the Conservative-led Government, we have seen falling unemployment in Harlow in every single month this year. Over 500 new jobs have come back to our town. This is fantastic news and we should be proud of it. The BBC have also said Harlow has the fastest business growth - not just in England, but across the whole country.

To build on this success, I am organising a Job's Fair at the Leisure Zone, this autumn -with the help of many volunteers including Cllr Janice Elliott, Harlow Chamber of Commerce, our local Harlow Jobcentre, Harlow College, and Olympic torch-bearer Mike Jackson. 

The aim is to help local people who are looking for a job, to meet companies with vacancies. Entry is FREE, and there will also be FREE job-training seminars, such as CV workshops.

This week I have written to over 700 Harlow firms, inviting them to come to recruit new staff at the event. It will be FREE for them to hold a stall. Employment Minister Chris Grayling has also said he hopes to be able to attend.

Attendees and exhibitors alike can sign-up online at www.harlowjobsfair.eventbright.com.

by Robert Halfon MP - Working Hard for Harlow.

Trade Union wrong about Health Protection Agency

I was very disappointed to see that Unite Trade Union, has come out against the Health Protection Agency (HPA) coming to Harlow. Unite's view is all the more surprising given that Trade Union's are supposed to be about protecting jobs rather than destroying them.

In a speech on the House of Commons on 22 June, I argued that the HPA move to Harlow, would represent value for money for the taxpayer, would be good for public health and would help transform Harlow's economy:

Value for Money: The HPA move would benefit the taxpayer by £100 billion over its lifetime, according to the HPA Study. The HPA site at GSK Harlow, would be also be cost effective and save millions in construction costs.

Public Health: The site at Porton Down is reaching the end of its life, so represents a danger to public health. Most of the kind of 'bugs' examined by the HPA, are studied daily in hospital laboratories up and down the country. The site at GSK would be purpose built and extremely secure. It should be noted that the HPA is a public health laboratory - not military. If the HPA were in Harlow, it would also form part of the scientific corridor around the M11 and North London, making scientific collaboration easier.

Benefits to Harlow: The HPA in our town would transform employment - with possibly over 1,000 extra jobs. The secondary effect would be to boost local shops and businesses around the Pinnacles. Harlow has the highest unemployment in West Essex, so these jobs could not be more important - especially with the GSK redundancies.

Let us hope that this inept Unite intervention has not ruined the chances of the HPA coming to Harlow. According to the Electoral Commission, UNITE has given substantial funds to Harlow Labour Party in recent years.

P.S. It is good news that Conservative led Harlow Council has voted unanimously for the HPA move to Harlow.

P.P.S. You can read my Commons Speech on the HPA HERE.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com