Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Fuller Excerpts

Monday 1st July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I think my hon. Friend might be referring to the idea of a total welfare cap, and while the Chancellor of the Exchequer has explicitly ruled out the idea of capping state pensions, I understand there are others in this House who are prepared to cap state pensions.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the performance of the Work programme in helping young people into work.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)]

Just under half the young people who had been on the Work programme for a year had work, and over 46,000 had had more than six months of work.

[Richard Fuller]

I do not know whether the Minister is as disappointed as I am at the sniping negativity of Labour MPs towards the Work programme, when what they should be doing is rolling up their sleeves and making it work in their constituencies. In that spirit, will the Minister applaud the 50 small businesses in Bedford which, working in conjunction with the two Work programme providers, will on 11 July be giving 200 young people the equivalent of a day of speed-dating interviews to give them a good restart in their careers?

[Mr Hoban]

That is a fantastic example of how local employers can work with the Work programme to deliver good outcomes for people and get them into work.