Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Daniel Kawczynski and Damian Hinds

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I was truly shocked to read of the incident to which the hon. Lady refers. Such incidents, and racism in general, must of course have no place in our schools or our country. Schools have to have a policy setting out measures to encourage good behaviour, including the prevention of bullying, and where there are serious concerns, Ofsted has powers to inspect any school without notice.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

T2. Shrewsbury College has an outstanding reputation for providing high-quality apprenticeship programmes, yet it was unsuccessful in the latest non-levy apprenticeship tender process, which will put the college and students at a disadvantage. It caters for a huge geographical catchment area, and Ministers and officials need to think again about this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Daniel Kawczynski and Damian Hinds

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

19. What recent comparative assessment he has made of rates of unemployment in the UK and in other European countries.

[The Minister for Employment (Damian Hinds)]

The UK has the joint fourth lowest unemployment rate in the European Union. At 4.3%, UK unemployment is the lowest in 42 years. It is 3.3 percentage points below the EU 28 average and half that of the euro area.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

Our unemployment rates continue to fall faster than the EU mean. How is universal credit helping that?

[Damian Hinds]

Universal credit is an absolutely integral part of our overall approach to employment. It not only simplifies the system but makes it easier for people to go into work, because they do not have to think about whether subsequently they might have to restart their benefit claim. Once people are in work, it means that they can make progress more easily because there are none of the cliff edges of the old system.