§ 6. Ms Rosie Winterton (Doncaster, Central)What steps his Department is taking to enhance the services offered at the gateway stage of the new deal. [94254]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Michael Wills)We have strengthened the gateway through extra support for young people during its fourth month, and by developing new tools to help identify their needs. We have also established trailblazer projects in 12 locations to test further improvements.
§ Ms WintertonI welcome my hon. Friend to his new position, and thank him for that reply.
The Employment Service in Doncaster greatly welcomes the Government's initiatives—especially the trailblazing initiatives—because of the help they give to promote best practice in dealing with clients who pose particular challenges. The Barnsley and Doncaster training and enterprise council has emphasised the need for a coalition with employers. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what steps are being taken to ensure best practice from trailblazing through the involvement of employers? How can that best be passed on when the scheme rolls out nationwide? Will he come to Doncaster to encourage employers to join the Employment Service in that scheme?
§ Mr. WillsI thank my hon. Friend for her kind words about me and about the trailblazer projects. Their point is 1085 to promote best practice. We are already encouraging other units of delivery to adopt for their own gateways the successful aspects of the trailblazer approach. Trailblazers are about developing in young people the kind of soft skills that employers tell us that they want. It is most pleasing that employers are already getting on board; for example, Scottish Amicable in the Forth valley, Bovis in Liverpool and Vauxhall in Luton.
I should be delighted to visit Doncaster, to encourage employers to see the real advantages these projects can offer them—as well as the young people who have already benefited from the scheme.
§ Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset)I welcome the unpaid Under-Secretary to his new Department and I am sorry that my campaign to get him a salary has not worked. We shall keep on trying.
Has the hon. Gentleman examined the detailed statistics on new deal and the gateway? How many people complete the gateway but do not gain access to any schemes or employment? How many people who completed the gateway had their benefits stopped because they did not accept a place on any scheme?
§ Mr. WillsI am always grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his solicitude on my behalf, but I must inform him that his campaign has paid off. Perhaps the Prime Minister listened to the hon. Gentleman on that issue, if not about anything else.
I am afraid that, as usual, the hon. Gentleman is looking at the problem in the wrong way. He needs to consider the big picture. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already said, more than 100,000 young people have secured jobs. They have regained hope—which would never have happened under the previous Government. [Interruption.] Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will allow me to finish. He should also consider the benefit that the new deal brings to the economy as a whole. We are removing the inflationary pressures that come from not having enough competition in the job market to fill existing vacancies. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman remembers inflation from the years of Conservative Government.