Unemployment: Older Women

Debate between Baroness Brinton and Lord Freud

Tuesday 16th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Brinton]

My Lords, one of the major challenges facing many older women in preparing for their retirement is the current complexity of the pension and pension credit system, which puts women at a disadvantage. Figures suggest that some women on average receive £40 a week less state pension than men as a result of changes. What is the department doing to simplify the system and give clarity to women as to what level of state pension they will receive?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, as my noble friend will know, we are making big strides on pension provision. We have introduced the triple lock and we are talking about introducing a single tier of pensions, which will massively simplify the overcomplex pension provision in this country.

Young People: NEET

Debate between Baroness Brinton and Lord Freud

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

I should like to pick up one aspect of that question, which is the nostalgia displayed for the future jobs fund. When you look at the results of the future jobs fund, you find that, two months after the period ended for a major cohort early on, about half of the people who took part were back on benefit. If you look at what happened under work experience, two months after the first cohort went through, roughly half of the people were off benefit—the same. The difference was that the future jobs fund cost £6,500 whereas the work experience cost £325—20 times cheaper. That is the difference of our activity in looking after youth. We are just as effective, but we are doing it cost-effectively.

[Baroness Brinton]

My Lords, I welcome the Government's expansion of apprenticeships, but it is wrong to assume that this on its own will lower unemployment. Currently, most apprenticeships go to young people already in jobs. Only if a job with an apprenticeship is offered to a young person currently on jobseeker’s allowance will unemployment fall. What steps are being taken to develop closer work between DWP and BIS to ensure that apprenticeships indeed go to unemployed young people?

[Lord Freud]

We are very concerned to have apprenticeships going to the people who need them most. Last week, we announced incentives for employers effectively to take an extra 20,000 people off JSA by giving incentives of £1,500 to do that. We are having a massive increase in apprenticeships. The starts have gone up to about 440,000 this year, which is up 50 per cent on the previous year.