One of the country’s most senior Conservatives has raised concerns about Bradford’s flagship employment programme.

Bradford Council’s £10m Get Bradford Working project includes an employment opportunities fund, which gives the young jobless a paid 12-month placement carrying out work that will benefit the community.

Nationally, the Labour Party is interested in extending the scheme across the country if Ed Miliband’s party wins power at the next election.

But Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has spoken out, saying that while he didn’t know the intricacies of how the scheme worked, he would be concerned if taxpayers’ money was being used to fund state jobs.

He said: “My concern, potentially, is whether or not they are just taking £10m of council tax payers’ money and creating government jobs with that money – whether or not they are long-term, sustainable jobs that will keep people in work.”

Mr Shapps said public sector service jobs were “not necessarily the ones that create wealth” and the priority should be to “help create real jobs.”

He added: “Anyone can raise tax and spend it on paying people to do things. I don’t know if that’s definitely what is happening in a case like this, but there is always that concern.”

And he said the fact the national Labour Party was interested in the scheme “raises some alarm bells”, as the Conservatives were concentrating on helping businesses to create jobs themselves.

He said: “Certainly, across Yorkshire and the Humber we have, whilst losing jobs in the public sector, created three times as many in the private sector.”

When asked about Bradford’s unemployment rate, which rose from 6.9 per cent in December to 7.1 per cent in January, Mr Shapps said: “What I would say is 7.1 per cent is the national average. Of course, figures will move around month to month, quarter to quarter. The long-term trend is undeniably good.

But Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe (Lab), Bradford Council’s executive member for employment, defended their scheme. She said the Government was not offering any answers to this issue nationally.

She said: “The Conservative way writes off a lost generation of our young people and we’re not prepared to do that.

“By acting now to get young people into work, we’re saving millions in future benefit claims and health costs.

“Even the Government's own research on a similar model shows a net benefit to the exchequer.

“It’s better for the whole of society to have a young person in work than on the dole.”