Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alison McGovern and Josh Simons(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
We are building a new jobs and careers service for all, including those on universal credit, as the cornerstone of our Get Britain Working reforms. This new service will build towards an 80% employment rate, closing the gaps between disabled people and others and between parents and those without caring responsibilities, and dealing with the crisis in youth unemployment. We are also changing universal credit to stop people being left on the scrapheap, as per our “Pathways to Work” Green Paper.
Josh Simons
Last week, I held an emergency community meeting for 250 workers in my constituency who are about to lose their jobs following the closure of the electric fibreglass site in Hindley Green. It was heartbreaking. Some families have three generations of workers who have powered the blast furnace and produced materials for our energy, defence and housing sectors. I am bitterly disappointed that after the hard graft of the Government, me, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the GMB union, it has come to this, and another foreign company is closing a blast furnace in our country. What is the Minister doing to get workers like those back into work, so that they can do what they want to do, which is contribute to a strong industrial future?
Alison McGovern
Specifically on the business that my hon. Friend mentioned, the Department’s rapid response service has worked with those affected and is keen to do more. I will personally ensure that he is put in touch with my colleagues in the Department so that he can help facilitate that, too.
More broadly, like many industrial communities, my hon. Friend’s constituency deserves more good jobs. Our industrial strategy will help lead the way on that, as will the Chancellor’s investment plans set out in the recent spending review. I know that if my hon. Friend feels that we need to do more for his constituency, he will not hold back in telling us.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alison McGovern and Josh Simons(1 month, 4 weeks ago)
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Josh Simons (Makerfield) (Lab)
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
It is an unacceptable part of the Conservative legacy that almost 1 million young people are out of work or education and have little hope of a good start in life. That is why, as part of the plan to get Britain working, we will create a guarantee for all young people aged 18 to 21 in England to ensure they have access to high-quality training or an apprenticeship, or have help to find work. That plan will be vital to young people everywhere, including in Makerfield’s towns.
Josh Simons
In the towns I represent, the largest type of private employment is the trades. Bricklayers, plumbers, electricians—these are the people who build our nation’s future and on whom our future security and prosperity depend. They are the working people the Labour party was created to represent. What is the Minister doing to ensure that more young people get into the trades, in particular partnering with local technical colleges like ours in Wigan and Leigh?
Alison McGovern
I thank my hon. Friend for that question because, as the Prime Minister says, we are the party of the builders. As my hon. Friend says, the Labour party was created to serve the simple principle that working-class people could run the country. The Department for Education is working closely with colleges and with us in the Department for Work and Pensions to create construction foundation apprenticeships from this August, which will give many more young people the tools they need for a career in the trades. That is in addition to DWP support for employers, which we have recently expanded specifically with those trades he mentions in mind.