Employment: Young People Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateBaroness Armstrong of Hill Top
Main Page: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(10 years, 9 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, one of the most serious problems that we inherited was around long-term youth unemployment; that was structural rather than cyclical. The measures that we have been taking are to get the education and training base for youngsters right. As I have told noble Lords in the past, I thought that the Alison Wolf report on dealing with this issue was most remarkable. We are pushing that through at every level.
My Lords, can the Minister tell us how many young people in the north-east have benefited from the measures that the Government have put in place to tackle youth unemployment?
In the north-east, the number of youngsters—those under 24 years old—who have been claiming as unemployed has gone down by 27%; that is by 7,500 to a figure of 20,000. One of the interesting things about the unemployment figures is how broadly based they have been. If you take the four most northern regions of the country—the north-east, the north-west, Yorkshire and Humberside, and Scotland—they have in combination reduced their claimant count by 43,000 youngsters to 118,000. That is, interestingly, rather more than London and the south-east.