Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gloria De Piero and Mike Penning

Thursday 30th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mike Penning]

I have great respect for the right hon. Gentleman, but his figure is not quite correct, because 80% of that 51% of young black men are in full-time education. That is what is actually going on. We need to work hard on individuals and ensure that the discrimination that the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) referred to does not take place. We must work together to do that and that is what we intend to do.

[Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)]

The latest annual figures show that the rate of non-white unemployment has risen by 9.2%. Why is that happening?

[Mike Penning]

In some areas of the country, we have work to do in respect of unemployment. We are working very hard on that. We need to work together. One area that is of particular concern to me is the high unemployment rate in the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, particularly among women. One reason for that, although not the only reason, is that there are language issues. We need to work on that closely in our constituencies, which I am doing in my constituency, because English is not usually spoken fully by ladies in those two communities.