§ 6. Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the reduction in the underlying unemployment figures is due to the Government's restart programme and other similar measures; and what proportion is due to an increase in the actual number of jobs available.
§ Mr. FowlerIt is not possible to assess separately the effects on the unemployment count of Government measures and of the increasing number of jobs that are available in the economy. Government measures, including the restart programme, are helping unemployed people to compete more effectively in the labour market and take up the new jobs that are being generated.
§ Mr. HughesDoes the Secretary of State appreciate that people in Wales, in particular, are a bit fed up with the Government's claims that unemployment is falling, when they witness and experience mass unemployment all around them? Does the Secretary of State appreciate that the problem of unemployment will not be solved by 196 shuffling people from one register to another or by fiddling the statistics? What we need is an upsurge in manufacturing industry.
§ Mr. FowlerI thought that I had said earlier that one of the biggest falls in unemployment over the past 12 months was in Wales. Surely the hon. Gentleman should welcome that as being the case. The restart programme provides an entry into a number of programmes, such as the community programme, enterprise allowance and job clubs. That is serving a useful and valuable function.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonDoes my right hon. Friend accept that many Conservative Members commend the expertise of the staff of his Department? It has played a valuable role in the restart programme. Not only has the programme enabled many people to find work who were finding it difficult to compete in the labour market, but it has also identified those few people who clearly have no intention of working.
§ Mr. FowlerThe purpose of restart, as my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) said, is to provide regular employment interviews for people who have been out of work for more than six months and to help them find a suitable job. I believe that that has been valuable. I also believe—this goes further than restart—that there is no point in seeking to pay social security payments to those people who are not genuinely unemployed.
§ Mr. McAllionWill the Secretary of State accept that a reduction in the unemployment figures is not the same as finding real work for the unemployed? Will he accept that only one in every 100 of those who go on to the restart programme find real jobs? When are the Government going to start to honour the commitment they made in the 1979 election to create real and not phoney jobs for the unemployed?
§ Mr. FowlerI do not accept for one moment the statistic used by the hon. Gentleman. It is based on a total misunderstanding of the position. The number of jobs has been increasing every quarter for the past four years, and 1.2 million jobs have been created since March 1983. There are over 24 million people in employment in this country. They are significant figures and they are real jobs.
§ Mr. BaldryDoes my right hon. Friend agree that the vast majority of those who are unemployed are unqualified and unskilled and that the vast majority of jobs available require skills and qualifications, and that the restart programme helps direct people towards training for skills? To that end, my right hon. Friend would be welcome were he to visit the skills shop in Banbury, part of the training access points initiative, where people can walk in off the street, find out what skills are required in the labour market and obtain training for those skills. It has been a great success in helping bring down the unemployment rate in north Oxfordshire.
§ Mr. FowlerMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Restart provides an entry to programmes such as the community programme, enterprise allowance schemes and job clubs. In that respect, it is a valuable way of bringing people back into employment.
§ Mr. PikeWill the Secretary of State accept that, although the restart scheme may be of help to some of the long-term unemployed, it does not create any additional 197 new jobs? He may take credit for the reduction of unemployment levels at present, but is that not outrageous in view of the fact that the Government have created the highest level of unemployment and then sit there confidently and claim that they are reducing it, when it is still at an unacceptable level?
§ Mr. FowlerUnemployment is coming down and that is shown not just in the figures for the past month but for the past 12 months. That trend is unmistakable. The number of new jobs created has been increasing in every quarter for the past four years. I would have thought that that was something that Labour Members would welcome.
§ Mr. FallonWill my right hon. Friend confirm that the bulk of the reduction has been through people going into jobs rather than schemes and that unemployment in the north-east has now been falling by 1,500 per month for the past six months? Will he also confirm that evidence of recovery in the region is now unmistakable, even for the professional pessimists in the Opposition?
§ Mr. FowlerMy hon. Friend is right. The same can be said of many other regions of the country. It is true not only for the north-east but for the west midlands and many other areas. The trend is unmistakable and, as my hon. Friend said, it is only the Opposition who are seeking to challenge that.