HC Deb 02 June 1997 vol 295 cc7-8
5. Mr. Doran

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will make a statement on the number of young people aged 18 to 25 who are dependent on social security benefits. [879]

Mr. Field

I welcome my hon. Friend's re-entry to the House. The answer to his question is 1.3 million.

Mr. Doran

I thank my right hon. Friend for his kind remarks. Is he aware that, even in oil-rich Aberdeen which has one of the lowest adult unemployment rates in the country, almost 1,500 young people under the age of 25 are unemployed? That is almost four times the adult rate. What steps will he take to ensure that those young people are offered real employment and training opportunities to remove them from benefit?

Mr. Field

I am sure that my hon. Friend's constituents will not have missed the fact that, in his first question back in the House, he asks about unemployed under 25-year-olds, because in his constituency the unemployment rate among that group is higher than the average rate in Scotland or, indeed, in the United Kingdom. They and many of our constituents who are under the age of 25 will look forward to the Budget that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will shortly present to enable us to raise the revenue to introduce our welfare to work measures. They will offer a range of opportunities to every unemployed person aged between 18 and 25.

Mr. Bernard Jenkin

While the Government do not plan to increase expenditure on pensioners, can the Minister confirm that the plans that have been announced today amount to extra spending on single parents and 18 to 25-year-olds?

Mr. Field

It would be helpful to the House for us to hear the speech and then table questions on it.

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