Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Jarvis Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan Smith]

Vulnerable tenants will be defined as they always have been, as people who for various specific reasons are unable to cope. All those people will be considered carefully and all the mechanisms that we are putting in place—this is the point that makes universal credit different—mean that by ensuring that we identify those who have difficulties, we can get to them and sort out their problems rather than just dealing with the symptoms, such as their being unable to make their payments. We need to deal with why they are in debt, what is happening to their families and whether, say, the family is drug addicted and start to put those problems right before they crash out of work later on.

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

T7. The DWP recently published an evaluation that confirmed a net benefit of £7,750 per participant from the future jobs fund, a scheme that originated in my constituency. That can be set alongside Barnsley college’s successful sector-based work academy, which is already demonstrating its effectiveness in getting long-term unemployed adults into work. Does the Minister understand why, when it comes to reducing long-term unemployment, my constituents have more faith in those schemes, which originated in Barnsley, than they do in the Work programme, which came from his Department?

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Mr Mark Hoban)]

The hon. Gentleman should reflect on the fact that the sector-based work academy is part of the Youth Contract. It is effective and is an idea put forward by this Government. I am pleased that it is working well in Barnsley. The other thing in the Youth Contract that is working well is work experience, which is as effective as the future jobs fund but 20 times cheaper. The Government can demonstrate that we are giving help to get people into work, and are giving much better value to the taxpayer.