§ 6. Mr. Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd)What discussions he has had with the First Secretary about the number of unemployed people in Wales in May 1997 and May 2000. [126698]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. David Hanson)My right hon. Friend regularly meets the First Secretary to discuss a wide range of issues, including employment in Wales. In addition, I hold quarterly liaison meetings with the Assembly Secretary for Education and Training.
This Government's continued record of commitment to getting people off benefits and back into work is highlighted by the fact that the number of claimants on jobseeker's allowance for April has been significantly reduced to 59,170, compared with 80,322 when the Conservative Government left office in May 1997.
§ Mr. RuaneI thank my right hon. Friend—I mean my hon. Friend, although he should be right hon.—for that answer. In my constituency, unemployment has fallen by 29 per cent. Youth unemployment has fallen by 69 per cent., despite the fact that I lost 800 workers when Kwik Save closed down. However, I am still concerned about the number of economically inactive people in Wales. What discussions has my hon. Friend had with the First Secretary on reducing the number of economically inactive people in our work force?
§ Mr. HansonI am pleased that unemployment has fallen by such a significant amount in my hon. Friend's constituency, thanks in no small part to the new deal and the efforts of the Government. The Government are working in conjunction with the Assembly on lifelong learning, social inclusion and active employment action—all things which I hope will help bring the economically inactive back into the workplace so that we can obtain the maximum benefit from objective 1 and ensure that unemployment falls still further.
§ Mr. Robert Walter (North Dorset)The House will be somewhat disappointed that the Minister did not give credit to the bright economic legacy left in Wales by my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague). That was the reason for the fall in unemployment in the past three years. But what of the future? Objective 1 status will make a contribution to lowering unemployment, but when will we see the money behind that? This week, the European Commission gave its agreement to objective 1 status for Wales. Can the Minister tell the House whether he and the Secretary of State have convinced the Treasury to give full match funding in addition to existing plans for the Welsh block grant? A simple yes or no will suffice.
§ Mr. HansonThe bright legacy left to this Government was the legacy of no Tory MPs in Wales.
As the hon. Gentleman is aware, there is a process and it has been discussed. It has been explained to him on many occasions. Indeed, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have told him at every possible opportunity that the matter will be sorted out with the comprehensive spending review in July—it will be addressed at that stage.
I remind the hon. Gentleman that the bright economic legacy to which he referred resulted in 80,000 people unemployed in Wales; there are now 59,000 people unemployed in Wales—it must be brighter under Labour.