David Blunkett is the man in charge of New Deal
New Deal is one of Labour's proudest achievements. The government claim it has helped 500,000 young people back into work. But that is only one side of the story.
An exclusive investigation by the Politics Show this week has revealed that many of the private companies who train the unemployed and get them back to work in the North East have run out of money.
They told us that Jobcentre Plus has cut their budgets, leading to a dramatic fall in the numbers of people doing their training.
Worse still, several firms in the region have themselves had to make redundancies.
This is what one company from Gateshead had to say: "Normally we have a couple of hundred people coming through on New Deal.
"At the moment we have a contract for four. It has had a big impact on us. Out of 24 staff we've had to make eight redundancies."
That is exactly what happened to Dianne West. She lost her job as a trainer a few months ago and we have been speaking to her about what is going on.
Funnily enough the man in charge of New Deal, David Blunkett, is in the North East on Friday meeting some of the success stories.
What does he say to the allegation that it is in crisis? Find out on the Politics Show this Sunday.
Newcastle MP Nick Brown is among our studio guests giving his opinion on New Deal's record.
If you have an experience of New Deal, good or bad, let us know.
We also report on the fate of our market towns. Can they survive the competition from retail giants?
We will be at a big conference of market towns in Hexham and going inside the new Tesco store.
Tesco is proud of the investment they have brought to the town, not to mention the new jobs.
But many local traders are wary of the impact the development will have when it opens its doors later this month.
That is the Politics Show, Sunday 09 October at Noon with Richard Moss and Mary Askew.
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