A STRATEGY advisor from the region has landed an important role advising the Government on unemployment and deprivation in hard-hit communities.

Toby Lowe, senior strategy executive with regional development agency One NorthEast, secured a six-month secondment to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in London.

The Byker-born 30-year-old will work in the Social Exclusion Unit, analysing information accumulated during the far-reaching study Jobs and Enterprise in Deprived Communities.

He said: "My job will be to analyse that information and turn it into policy recommendations for ministers on what can be done to tackle these problems.

"Employment rates across Britain as a whole have been rising steadily for a decade and unemployment is at its lowest level for a generation. However, there are still communities with many people out of work.

"The project is trying to find out what more should be done to tackle the concentrations of worklessness that still persist in some neighbourhoods. This is an invaluable opportunity for me to gain experience working with central government - experience I can bring back with me to the North-East."

Mr Lowe, who previously worked as a regeneration officer for Newcastle Council Voluntary Service, will begin his secondment on Monday.