HC Deb 27 April 1993 vol 223 cc831-2
1. Mr. Peter Atkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what measures she is introducing to assist the long-term unemployed in the north of England.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Patrick McLoughlin)

New measures announced in the Budget will provide an extra 1010,000 opportunities nationally for the long-term unemployed. Learning for work, community action and an expanded business start-up scheme will be available for long-term unemployed people.

Mr. Atkinson

Is my hon. Friend aware that Tyneside training and enterprise council, which I understand has been chosen for a pilot scheme for one of four workstart programmes, yesterday launched its own workstart programme, Tyneskill support, aimed at people who have been out of work for more than two years? Does my hon. Friend agree that the advantage of workstart is that it confers a double benefit—first, for the people who are helped and, secondly, in that it helps to convince employers that people who have been out of work for more than two years still retain their skills and an enthusiasm for work and should not be written off as unemployable?

Mr. McLoughlin

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, who points out the amount of help that we give to people who are unemployed long term. Indeed, the United Kingdom has a good record compared with our European counterparts. The proportion of long-term unemployed people in the United Kingdom, at 28 per cent., is lower than in Italy, where it is 67 per cent., in Belgium, where it is 61 per cent., in Ireland, where it is 60 per cent., in Germany, where it is 45 per cent., and in the Netherlands, where it is 43 per cent. That shows that we dedicate help to the long-term unemployed.

Mr. Lewis

Does the Minister's litany of assistance include encouraging people to go on the sick register instead of the unemployment register? Will he ask his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to order the investigation that I have requested into the scandal going on in the Employment Service in my constituency?

Mr. McLoughlin

It is rather sad that when we have seen unemployment falling for two months, the only people who complain about it, and continue to do so, are Labour Members. That is not surprising, in view of the way that they have relished it when unemployment has continued to rise.

Mr. Trotter

May I say how much Tyneside will appreciate being chosen for one of the new schemes and how appropriate it is that an area of high unemployment, with an excellent basic record of industrial relations and skills, should have the opportunity to make itself available for inward and home-based investment as the recession ends? The news will be much welcomed in the community on Tyneside.

Mr. McLoughlin

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He is right to say that the scheme will have an important impact. We shall watch it closely to see what lessons we can learn from it.

Ms Quin

Will the Minister confirm that there is a massive problem of long-term unemployment on Tyneside and that the scheme to which the hon. Member for Hexham (Mr. Atkinson) referred aims to create 400 jobs for the long-term unemployed by July, whereas there are 32,000 long-term unemployed people on Tyneside? Will the Minister agree to support some of the ideas advanced by the Labour party to bring Government Departments together in an office in the north to identify and promote employment opportunities in the region?

Mr. McLoughlin

It would make a great difference if we started to receive some support from the Labour party for the many schemes that we try to offer long-term unemployed people. The Labour party is always lacking in enthusiasm. The hon. Lady rightly mentions the high unemployment in the northern region, but in July 1986 unemployment in that region stood at 220,000, whereas according to the latest figures it is now 166,000–25 per cent. lower. I should have thought that even the Opposition would welcome that.