A TASK force established to examine how efforts can be co-ordinated to help find new jobs for steelworkers facing redundancy met for the first time this week.

The meeting included senior figures from Government agencies, regional and local bodies, Redcar and Cleveland Council, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar, Corus and UK Steel Enterprise.

Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers has thrown his weight behind the task force, which will work out how to deal with the impact of hundreds of steel job losses in the area.

The decision to set up the task force follows announcements from Corus that it will shed more than 750 jobs at its Grangetown Research Centre and production plants at Lackenby and Redcar.

The group, which met on Monday, devised a strategy to tackle both the short-term impact of job losses on workers and their families and the need for measures to boost regeneration initiatives on Teesside.

Colin Moore, Chief Executive of Redcar and Cleveland Council, described it as a very positive first meeting, but said it will be mid-October before the full scale of the job losses will be known. "We agreed to begin putting in place the support and advice services so when we do know the detailed picture we can move quickly to help the individuals involved," he said.

"At the same time we all recognised the importance of developing measures, both for the short and longer term, which can help to redress the impact of what is a very serious blow to the area by attracting new jobs and investment - and we aim to have a list of proposed actions drawn up within the next month."

Tees Valley Partnership chairman Alistair Arkley, who is also chairing the task force, said: "I believe the clear commitment from all parties to work together - and to learn from the experiences of others - has set us in the right direction.