Unemployment: Young People Debate

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Department: Department for Work and Pensions

Unemployment: Young People

Lord Barnett Excerpts
Thursday 20th June 2013

(11 years, 4 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Freud Portrait Lord Freud
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My Lords, clearly there are various initiatives. Some €6 billion across Europe is not a huge amount, and we are spending a great deal on our youth unemployment issues with the youth contract. If it emerges out of these meetings that one of the aspects of the European scheme is to encourage SMEs to take on youngsters by offering loans, clearly that is something that we will look at.

Lord Barnett Portrait Lord Barnett
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My Lords, does the noble Lord accept that talking to others might be helpful, but that generally they are pretty useless, especially in summits? Will he also accept that 1% growth at best over the coming years will be no way to help to increase employment among young people or anybody else?

Lord Freud Portrait Lord Freud
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My Lords, perhaps I should not comment on the uselessness or otherwise of summits.

One of the most interesting things about this current recession, or slowdown in growth—