KEIGHLEY'S jobless total has risen slightly.

Last month there were 1,065 claimants in the Parliamentary constituency, which includes Ilkley – up by 20 on February.

Shipley constituency, which includes Cullingworth and Denholme, saw a fall by five to 980.

The number of unemployed people across the Bradford district was down compared to this time last year, but up slightly from February.

In March 2016, 9,375 people in the district were claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance or Universal Credit benefits, principally for unemployment reasons.

The latest figures, released by the Office of National Statistics, show that the total has fallen to 9,310.

But the new figures also show that on a month-by-month basis, the number of claimants is at the highest level since September.

The total represents 2.8 per cent of the Bradford district population.

The newest figures also show a huge drop in youth unemployment in the past five years, down by 65 per cent.

Tracy Othen, a Jobcentre Plus skills manager, said: “I think a lot of this is down to initiatives around work experience and a lot of work particularly focused on getting young people back into work.

“These have all been a big help for young people who may have otherwise left school and not done anything for a while.

“We also had apprenticeship week in March, which could help more people consider apprenticeships as a great way to gain skills and employment.”

South Craven MP Julian Smith has visited Skipton Jobcentre Plus to hear about the work being done there to help people across Craven into employment.

"I was very pleased to meet the team at Skipton Jobcentre Plus and was impressed by its commitment – the staff are doing fantastic work," he said.

"It was especially interesting to hear about a successful roll-out of the Universal Credit full service."