Wednesday 21st January 2015

(9 years, 9 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Freud Portrait Lord Freud
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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 Portrait Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab)
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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?