Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

6. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

8. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

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[Dr Murrison]

The matter to which the hon. Lady refers is of course primarily the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. I must observe, however, that unemployment among young people in Northern Ireland rose by 35% between May 1997 and May 2010; it has gone down by 3.3 percentage points in this year alone.

[Julie Hilling]

Last week’s labour market statistics show a worrying growth in female unemployment. What are the Government doing to address that imbalance?

[Dr Murrison]

Female unemployment is of course a concern right across the United Kingdom, as is unemployment in general. I would observe the number of apprenticeships being created by this Government. It is important that we get young people, male and female, into jobs for the long term, and not indulge in short-term gimmicks.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

One of the things we can do is share ideas with the Welsh Assembly Government. One thing we are pioneering here is making sure newly qualified doctors are offered special payments if they become GPs, and this is part of a £10 million plan we have to recruit even more. In England we have 1,000 more GPs working than we did back in 2010, and I hope the NHS in Wales will, while it is underfunded by the Labour Government in Wales, look at creative ideas like this.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

StepChange has reported today that the average debt of Bolton residents is £11,000. Does this not show that my constituents are suffering because of the Prime Minister’s failure to deal with the cost of living crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady’s constituents are benefiting from the fact that the economy is growing, our deficit is coming down and we are creating jobs, but we are dealing with the debt crisis which her Government put in place in our country. That is what is happening, but every day, the British economy and the British country is getting stronger; every day, the Labour party is getting weaker.