Aid for long term jobless planned

James Purnell will outline his plans on Monday at a jobs summit

Measures to help people who have been out of work for more than six months are to be unveiled by the government.

Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told the News of the World the government is preparing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds.

Details will be announced on Monday as Gordon Brown chairs a job summit.

Last month Mr Purnell said proposals to force most benefit claimants to prepare for work or face penalties were a "fair deal".

Writing in the newspaper Mr Purnell said: "We will announce... new support to everyone who has been looking for work for longer than six months.

"There will be a range of options that can help stop the sort of long term unemployment that wrecked communities in the past.

"The difference between then and now is what government chooses its priority to be when times are tough."

But shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said: "We have already had a string of either fake or exaggerated announcements on jobs this week from the government.

Milburn returns to join jobs fight

"At a time when it is clear the government's policies on the recession are not working, ministers need to show that this latest set of initiatives have some substance behind them - and are not just more spin and re-announcement."

Mr Purnell will outline the ways in which more training, advice and incentives for employers will be made available ahead of the jobs summit.

BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said the prime minister "wants to demonstrate the government is addressing the growing concerns about jobs as the downturn takes its toll".

To that end, former health secretary Alan Milburn is being brought back to frontline politics.

Mr Milburn, who is seen as a Blairite, will chair a panel of industry leaders to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds progress in key professions.

In a Sunday Times article he said he would try to ensure "the best people, regardless of their backgrounds, have a fair crack of the whip".

Measures to promote social mobility are to be set out in a White Paper on Tuesday.