§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the progress of the new employment service.
§ Mr. LeeI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Esher (Mr. Taylor), on 28 January, at column333.
Since then, the Government have set out in the recent White Paper, "Training for Employment", on priorities for the Employment Service; in particular to help unemployed people, and especially long-term unemployed people, to get back into work. An important part of this task will be to serve as a gateway to the new training for employment programme through jobcentre applications and restart interviews.