§ 2. Mr. David Lepper (Brighton, Pavilion)If he will make a statement on his Department's plans for the development of the new deal for the over-25s. [109129]
§ The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities (Ms Tessa Jowell)The new deal for those aged 25 and over has already helped 33,000 long-term unemployed people into jobs, and we have set aside a further £100 million to strengthen the new deal from April this year. From April 2001, we will be introducing a substantially strengthened new deal for this group, building on the successful approach of the new deal for young people.
§ Mr. LepperI thank my right hon. Friend for that information. Will she note that, since the introduction of the new deal, the number of long-term unemployed over-25s in my constituency has fallen from about 1,500 to about 450? Will she join me in congratulating the Brighton Employment Service staff on the vital role that they have played in making the new deal work for my constituents after years of underfunding of training and employment services by the previous Government? However, will my right hon. Friend acknowledge that a real and continuing need for many people who left school in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, demoralised at the prospect of never having a job, is help with basic literacy and numeracy skills? How will her proposals help those people to overcome that barrier to employment?
§ Ms JowellI pay tribute to my hon. Friend's support for the new deal which is delivering large numbers of his constituents from unemployment into work. I also join him in praising the efforts of the Brighton Employment Service, which has enabled 325 people from Brighton to move through the new deal for the over-25s into work—a higher rate of achievement of jobs than the national average. It is to be congratulated on that.
My hon. Friend has identified a critical challenge for the new deal, which is tackling the high level of illiteracy and innumeracy. Estimates suggest that about 20 per cent. of all unemployed people have literacy skills below level 1, and about 50 per cent. have numeracy skills below level 1. The new deal is about making people employable, getting them into one job so that they can sustain their place in the labour market. Lack of basic skills is an obstacle to that and a pathway to social exclusion, which is why we will redouble our efforts to ensure that all those 1088 leaving the new deal, whether young people or older unemployed people, are liberated from illiteracy and innumeracy and have the skills to stay in work.
§ Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire)How much does it cost for each person over 25 to obtain a full-time job through the new deal?
§ Ms JowellIf we take all the starts on the new deal, the figure is approximately £500 per person [Interruption.] I am answering the question. If we consider the number of people who have started work33,000—the figure is £3,500.