HC Deb 23 March 2000 vol 346 cc1096-8
3. Mr. Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead)

What steps he has taken to tighten the sanctions regime for violation of new deal option obligations. [114599]

The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett)

With the exception of those who fall into the vulnerable groups, we have, from 6 March, introduced a new 26-week sanction for the small minority of young people who repeatedly refuse to take up or comply with the options available to them. That is fair to the hundreds of thousands of young people who have taken up the option and to taxpayers. That will be complemented by further moves, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, in the light of Lord Grabiner's report.

Mr. McWalter

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Is he aware that a trickle of people are starting to come to Members' surgeries, some of them with fluctuating medical conditions, who feel that the mechanisms by which they can make their case are less than adequate? Will he ensure that those dealing with these matters are sensitive to such cases?

Mr. Blunkett

It is worth reinforcing the point that those who are subject to the new deal have been on jobseeker's allowance and have been available and declared themselves ready for work. Special advisers treat them with great care in ascertaining their medical condition to ensure that those in vulnerable groups are not included in the further sanctions that I have mentioned. Behaviour such as unjustified absence, refusal to attend a new deal option, leaving the option without agreement or serious misconduct is subject to the sanctions. Being ill, spasmodically or otherwise, is not.

Mr. Richard Allan (Sheffield, Hallam)

I am sure that the Secretary of State agrees that the objective should, whenever possible, be to stop options breaking down so that sanctions do not have to be applied. Is he aware of feedback from some of the option providers who feel that people are sometimes placed inappropriately because of the pressure on the Employment Service to get the numbers through? Will he assure the House that as we bring the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service together and spread the new deal across the full age range, he will not set the targets in such a way that they take precedence over finding the right option for each individual going through the gateway?

Mr. Blunkett

First, there is no evidence that that is happening. Secondly, the special adviser service is designed to tailor the option that young people or those over 25 take to meet their particular needs. If the hon. Gentleman can produce evidence to the contrary, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities and I will be happy to take it up. We are taking further steps with employers, including announcements to be made shortly on the intensification of the gateway period and the necessary support that will be available to ensure that people are placed in the right option at the right time to meet their particular needs.

Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead)

On 12 January, the Prime Minister boasted in the House that 170,000 young people had found work as a result of the new deal. In a press release last month on the latest figures, the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities claimed that 185,000 had found work through the new deal. According to the Government's Red Book, only half those jobs can be claimed as a direct result of the new deal. Are not the Government's continuing extravagant claims for the success of the new deal just another example of their fiddling the figures? When will the Secretary of State and his right hon. Friends stop spinning, start telling us the reality of the new deal and accept the verdict of the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) that it is not delivering?

Mr. Blunkett

Even on the hon. Lady's definition, the new deal is obviously delivering. It is delivering to those who have been unemployed for more than six months and are under 25. It will deliver and has been delivering to those who have been unemployed for 18 months or more and are over 25, who have suffered long-term unemployment and would have continued to do so under the previous Government. Without the new deal, without training programmes and without the intensive work that is undertaken in advising those young people, there is no evidence that they would have moved quickly into work. We know that there has been a 70 per cent. reduction in youth unemployment. We know also that 800,000 more men and women have a job now than when we came into office in May 1997. Further, we know that Conservative Members would do nothing for those who faced long-term unemployment until we were elected.