Employment

Debate between Lord Lea of Crondall and Lord Freud

Wednesday 21st January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

I am very pleased to answer my noble friend’s question. I was aware of those figures, and they underline the point: it is how you run the economy effectively that drives the employment figures, not how you manipulate those figures later with odd schemes.

[Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Government announce an independent inquiry into the evidence reported in today’s Guardian that Ministers in the Minister’s department have been instructing officials to manipulate the unemployment figures downwards?

Employment: Universal Jobmatch

Debate between Lord Lea of Crondall and Lord Freud

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab)]

Does the noble Lord recognise that some jobs advertised at the minimum wage do not get the minimum wage—not because of national insurance but because of deductions of commission or something like that? What steps are the Government taking to investigate practices along those lines?

[Lord Freud]

That is one of the specific areas in which our terms and conditions rule out going on to Universal Jobmatch. We will look at those jobs and employers and suspend them and withdraw those jobs.

Employment: New Jobs

Debate between Lord Lea of Crondall and Lord Freud

Monday 27th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

Youth unemployment is clearly a critical part of our strategy. I am pleased to be able to say that the number of youth claimants for JSA went down this year—by 105,000—to 315,000, which is an enormous percentage change but it has been going down now for 19 consecutive months. Long-term youth unemployment has also been going down at a very sharp rate, and the number of young NEETs is the lowest for a decade. We have been pumping up the number of apprenticeships, with 1.5 million places created; work experience is vital—there are 113,000 places. The sector-based work academies are all pushing youngsters into the employment market. As noble Lords know, the key measure I always use is that we manage to make a turnaround in the number of youngsters out of work and out of education, which rose through the boom years of the previous Government. We have now turned that round.

[Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab)]

Will the Minister repeat the figures he gave in terms of full-time equivalents?

[Lord Freud]

The figures I have are the actual figures: the number of youth claimants is down, by 105,000 in the year, to 315,000.

Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2011

Debate between Lord Lea of Crondall and Lord Freud

Monday 14th March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

Can I just point out that that is by no means the whole argument about the merits of the RPI?

[Lord Freud]

It is an attempt to find an explanation for why our RPI is so different from the CPI compared with other countries. I was just looking for a clue to answer the rather potent question asked by my noble friend. It was not a complete answer, but I tried to give a more complete answer earlier.

My noble friend Lord Kirkwood asked about the child poverty strategy, which we are aiming to publish shortly. The strategy will set out our plan to transform the lives of children in poverty now and in the future. It will be a step change from previous approaches, which focused solely on income poverty, to a more sustainable and effective approach that addresses the root causes of poverty rather than the symptoms.

On the National Insurance Fund, I am sure that my noble friend Lord Kirkwood, has had this answer back many times and I almost do not want to say it again. The formal answer is that there is no fund in the sense normally meant; there is no pot of money to hand out. But I shall not go into that.

There may be one or two other items that I have not covered, but if there are I shall write and clear up all other points—otherwise I shall be here all night.

I shall try to wrap this up. We are taking an approach that seeks to balance the interests of benefit and pension recipients and the interests of the taxpayer. The CPI is an appropriate measure of inflation and one that helps to put the welfare system on a sustainable footing. The CPI is a legitimate measure for price inflation; it increases in line with real world prices and protects purchasing power. As such, there are good reasons for concluding that it is more appropriate than the RPI for our purposes. Despite the fact the nation’s finances remain under severe pressure, this Government will spend an extra £4.3 billion in 2011-12 to ensure that people are protected against the cost of living increases. Through the restoration of the earnings link and the triple guarantee for the basic state pension, the increase to pension credit and the continued protection of benefit and pension value, we are fulfilling our commitment to ensure that no one is left behind. I commend the orders to the House.