HC Deb 24 November 1999 vol 339 cc136-7W
Caroline Flint

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people in(a) Don Valley, (b) Doncaster and (c) South Yorkshire will benefit from the extended New Deal. [98455]

Ms Jowell

The Chancellor announced in his pre-Budget report that the existing New Deal 25 plus pilots should be extended until March 2001. This will give us a valuable opportunity to learn more lessons to inform the detail of the enhanced New Deal for people aged 25 and over which we intend to introduce in April 2001. There are currently two pilots in South Yorkshire, but we cannot at this stage say how many additional people in those areas will be helped as a result of this extension, because there are a number of detailed issues which we need to explore on a pilot by pilot basis.