§ 5. Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people, to date, have been placed in employment by the Allerton outreach team. [21620]
§ Miss WiddecombeAs the hon. Gentleman knows, Bradford council manages the Allerton outreach team, but I understand that, up to 26 April 1995, 65 people have been placed into employment.
§ Mr. MaddenWhy, then, is the Minister's Department so mean and niggardly in its treatment of the Allerton outreach team? Will she acknowledge that, in finding more than 70 jobs—that is the latest figure—the team has saved the state £1 million per year? Will she urgently arrange for her officials to investigate the reasons for the team's success and, more importantly, ensure that two full-time posts are funded properly by her Department, so that my constituents who are desperately looking for work may be assisted by the team which has been so successful in finding jobs in the past few weeks?
§ Miss WiddecombeNotwithstanding the rather provocative language that the hon. Gentleman used at the beginning of his question, he has raised an important constituency point. I congratulate the Allerton outreach team on its performance. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Employment Department funded the team on a pilot basis. As we have completed that pilot funding, the training and enterprise council has now agreed that it will contribute £10,000 towards the salary of the full-time official and £10,000 to meet the cost of vouchers for training. The Employment Department will continue to assist with vacancies and other services of that type.
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that we originally funded the team through the programme development fund but, as that has now gone into the single regeneration budget, the Employment Department no longer has any responsibility for it. However, Bradford council can bid against those funds, so I suggest that the hon. Gentleman should address his question to the council.
§ Mr. BarronDoes the Minister not recognise that withdrawing funding from the scheme has created chaos similar to that which the Government have created elsewhere in the labour market? The lack of job opportunities in Bradford and insecurity at work nationally are only a part of the Government's failure. In the Yorkshire and Humberside region, 55 per cent. of male temporary workers and 40 per cent. of female temporary workers want, but cannot find, permanent work. What will the Minister say to the more than 61,000 people, and their families, for whom the Government's policies mean lost opportunities, lack of work and insecurity?
§ Miss Widdecomberose—
§ Miss WiddecombeWell, before my broomstick is clamped, I suggest that the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Barron) should study a few figures. Why does he not tell the people of Bradford that unemployment has declined from 9.9 per cent. this time last year to 8.7 per cent currently? Why does he not point out to the people of Bradford the Government's jobfinder's grant pilot and the grants that are available under that scheme, our workwise and 1–2–1 assistance and our work trials assistance? Why does he not try to bring hope to the people of Bradford and to the people of Yorkshire and Humberside instead of always trying to depress them?I 552 have said it before and I will say it again: one can tell how well the economy is doing from the length of Opposition Members' faces.