Westminster today accused the Scottish Government of acting "too little, too late" to help the unemployed.
Westminster today accused the Scottish Government of acting "too little, too late" to help the unemployed.
The charge was made by Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell as he announced a package of measures to help those hit by the recession.
The package includes "golden hellos" of up to £2,500 for employers for recruiting and training those out of work for more than six months.
Mr Purnell said the package was intended to ensure short term unemployment did not turn into long term unemployment and the "scars" this produced.
And he accused the Scottish Government of failing to use for its intended purpose European cash allocated by Westminster.
"In Wales and England, that money is going to help people get back into work," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland.
"I think it's a crying shame that in Scotland, that money is just being used to reduce the debt of the government."
Finance secretary John Swinney said on Friday that 4,700 jobs would be secured by bringing forward more than £230 million of public spending.
But Mr Purnell said: "That is far too little, too late.
"We gave the money for example to the Labour-controlled Welsh Assembly government, and they went immediately to putting money to help people get back in work.
"It has taken the Scottish Government months to do that.
"I think it's really time they stepped up to the plate and stopped cutting apprenticeships, which is another thing they are doing.
"We and the Welsh government are doing exactly the same thing - which is investing in getting people back into work and I think it's time the Scottish Government did the same."
But the Scottish Government insisted it had already fast-tracked a "substantial" amount of European cash to boost job creation.
"Almost 300 Scottish projects are already benefiting from the first round of the 2007-13 European structural funds programme, with around £200 million having been allocated to support economic development, enhance skills, increase turnover and help create new jobs, said a Scottish Government spokesman."
Areas to benefit included north east Scotland where hundreds of workers were being helped to gain skills, he said.
"The action we have taken demonstrates that through our economic recovery programme the Scottish Government will do all we can to ensure Scotland's economy is well positioned to take advantage when things begin to improve.
"So Scotland is already benefiting from European structural funds - and further decisions will be taken in the near future to accelerate other projects."
And a spokesman for enterprise minister Jim Mather declared: "James Purnell is simply wrong. Scotland is well ahead of England and Wales."
He said First Minister Alex Salmond announced last August, five months before England and Wales, that the European spending would be speeded to boost the economy.
"Over the next three years the Scottish Government is increasing by more than 40% the number of training places to 50,000 - a far higher pro-rata level than is available south of the border," he said.
"The Scottish Government is focused on practical help - such as putting skills advisers into job centres, colleges and even people's workplaces to make it easier to access the skills they need.
"James Purnell seems more interested in spurious and completely erroneous politically motivated attacks than actually helping people get the skills they need."
