Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Green Excerpts
Monday 19th November 2018

(5 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Secretary of State was asked—
Chris Green Portrait Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)
- Hansard - -

1. What estimate the Government have made of the number of workless households.

Stephen Kerr Portrait Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

17. What estimate the Government have made of the number of workless households.

Amber Rudd Portrait The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Amber Rudd)
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

May I take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Ms McVey), for her great leadership of this Department and particularly for her work on the Disability Confident campaign, which she set up?

The number of workless households has decreased by 964,000 since 2010, and currently stands at 3 million; this is a decrease of 24%. As the Office for National Statistics reported last week, the employment rate now stands at a near record high of 75.5 %, with a record 23.93 million people in full-time employment. In fact, there are now more than 3.3 million more people in work than in 2010.

Chris Green Portrait Chris Green
- Hansard - -

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply and welcome her back to her place on the Front Bench. Worklessness can hold people back in so many ways. Does my right hon. Friend agree that having people in employment can broaden the horizons not just of the person in work, but of the whole household?

Amber Rudd Portrait Amber Rudd
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We know that children in workless families are disadvantaged in their development, as well as in their future prospects, which is why we will continue to develop policies that support and encourage employment, strengthening parents’ incentives to move into and progress in work.