§ 24. Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the operation of the New Deal in Wales. [146545]
§ Mr. David HansonThe Government are committed to creating employment opportunity for all to fulfil our long-term employment ambition that, by the end of the decade, there will be a greater proportion of people in work than ever before.
The New Working Age Agency, to be set up in 2001, will bring together parts of the Employment Service and Benefits Agency to give greater support to people of working age.
The Government announced on the 30 November that we had reached our New Deal target for getting 250,000 people off welfare and into work. Over 17,000 18 to 24-year-olds in Wales have obtained employment since the New Deal was introduced and, there has been a 73 per cent. fall in the number of 18 to 24-year-olds unemployed and claiming the Job Seeker's Allowance for six months in Wales over the same period.