Government departments have been criticised for being "apparently unwilling" to recruit candidates from the flagship New Deal jobs scheme.

A committee of MPs praised the commitment of the Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service, which have taken on more than 2,100 New Dealers.

But other Whitehall departments recruited only around 1,600 between them up to last October.

The Education and Employment select committee said: "We remain extremely disappointed that other Government departments and agencies have remained so apparently unwilling to recruit New Deal candidates despite the efforts of the DfEE to encourage them to do so."

The proportion of civil service jobs filled by people on the New Deal rose slightly from 1.2 per cent to 1.3 per cent last year but this was still "some way" from the Government's target of 2 per cent.

The MPs also voiced concern that the proportion of young people moving from the New Deal into unsustained jobs remained at 40 per cent.

The aspirations of youngsters will not be met by a cycle of continual short-term employment followed by unemployment, then New Deal schemes, said the committee.

Ministers believe even temporary jobs may transform a young person's confidence and improve his or her work prospects.

The cost of the New Deal is likely to rise because an increasing proportion of those taking part will be the hardest to help, the MPs concluded.

Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett said the report was a "ringing endorsement" of the New Deal and the part it had played to virtually eliminate long-term youth unemployment.

The committee supported the Government analysis that in the next stage of the programme, support must be targeted on those who are hardest to help.