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More than 11,000 people in North Staffordshire claim unemployment benefit, regeneration projects are struggling for cash, and councils are cutting budgets. As Prime Minister David Cameron visited Stoke-on-Trent today, The Sentinel posed these questions:

Almost 12,000 people in North Staffordshire claim unemployment benefit. What is being done to create jobs here?

The truth is that it's not governments that create jobs – it's businesses that start and grow and thrive. We're doing everything we can to drive a strong, private sector-led recovery: cutting Corporation Tax, scaling back red tape, speeding up the planning process, reforming employment law, increasing the number of apprenticeships and abolishing employer National Insurance on the first ten jobs created by new businesses. Our economy has returned to growth and hundreds of thousands of new jobs have been created in the last year – and over the coming months we'll do everything possible to get behind business and keep driving wealth creation and job creation right across our country.

North Staffordshire missed out on being selected as one of the first wave of 11 enterprise zones, while relatively thriving places such as Manchester and Leeds were successful. You told Parliament the Potteries has a strong case to be included in the next batch of zones. Will North Staffordshire succeed this time?

As George Osborne announced in the budget, we will be naming a further ten enterprise zones following a thorough, competitive process. The nature of that competition means we can't make guarantees. What I would say is that all the city's MPs should continue to work with local business and the Local Enterprise Partnership to forward the Potteries' case.

North Staffordshire submitted seven bids for finance from the Regional Growth Fund, only one of which was successful. What guarantees can you give that the city's businesses will be successful in the second round?

We are committed to building a more balanced economy – where the whole country shares in the economic growth and rising prosperity. That's why we've brought in a National Insurance holiday for new businesses in the area. The Regional Growth Fund is another important part of our approach. It's all about central government, local government, business and communities working together to help create jobs. But no guarantees can be made. This is a national scheme with a large number of bids competing for funding, and competing on their merits. What I can say to the businesses of Stoke is that the potential of every single bid is being carefully weighed, and the Government is keen that this fund helps areas that are over-dependent on the public sector make the transition to private-sector led growth.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council received one of the worst financial settlements of all local authorities in the country from the Government. It is now having to save �35 million from its �201 million budget this year. Pools, libraries and tourist attractions have been closed. Do you stand by your belief that services should not be affected by the cuts?

We are committed to protecting deprived areas that are more reliant on government funding. These settlements were arrived at through a careful process of weighing the needs of different communities – North and South, rural and urban – so that we could prioritise those places with the most pressing needs. We've also established a Transition Grant worth �96 million this year so that we can limit reductions in funding for those most dependent on the grant. Of course all councils have to make cuts – that's the legacy of the debt Labour left us. But as Conservative councils up and down the country are showing, by sharing backroom costs with other councils, and by cutting waste, council chiefs' salaries and perks you can protect frontline services.

Three hundred beds at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire are being cut. How will you ensure patients get the care they need?

We are committed to a strong NHS that is free at the point of use. That's why we are increasing investment by �11.5 billion – investment opposed by Labour. But protecting the NHS doesn't mean sticking with the status quo. The NHS has got to change because the demands coming down the line – of an ageing population and increasingly expensive treatments – demand that our health service is more efficient. So we're getting rid of Labour's box-ticking bureaucracy that tied NHS staff in red tape. Already we're making a positive difference: the latest NHS annual report confirms that waiting times have been broadly stable since March 2008 and since May 2010 there are nearly 2,500 more doctors and nurses working. These changes are right for our health service and right for the people of Stoke.

Almost three-quarters of Stoke-on-Trent primaries are over-crowded – the worst rate in England. How will you improve conditions in our schools?

No answer given.

Renew spent �98 million buying up 1,661 houses. Thousands have been demolished, but now the money has run out. What about the wastelands left behind?

No answer given.