Business of the House

Iain Wright Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I agree with my hon. Friend and commend the forthright way in which he said that. The introduction of the new work experience scheme, focused on 18 to 21-year-olds, offers them work experience and the ability to retain their benefits, which they could not do for as long a period before. That is an opportunity—a voluntary opportunity—for young people, and the initial evidence is that 51% subsequently come off benefits, so it is a good use of their time. I commend the employers who have offered the scheme, as well as Tesco, which has a parallel scheme that offers four weeks’ paid employment and then an opportunity for a job through an interview. It is wrong to decry these initiatives; we need more of them, not fewer.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

Statistics published last week revealed that 4,633 people in Hartlepool are unemployed—the figure is up month on month and year on year—and that the proportion of unemployed people in the north-east is the highest in any region. Government policy is not helping; in fact, it is making matters much worse. May we therefore have an urgent debate about unemployment in the north-east?

[Sir George Young]

I would deny that Government policies are making the situation worse. I believe that the retention of low interest rates is in the best interests of creating jobs in the hon. Gentleman’s area. Unemployment is too high, but if he looks at the latest figures, he will see that an extra 60,000 people are in work in the last quarter, the number of those in long-term unemployment has fallen, and the number of vacancies has begun to increase. I am not sure that the picture is quite as dismal as he painted it.