Oral Answers to Questions

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I understand why the hon. Gentleman makes his point. My hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary will meet him to talk about the HMRC issues. As for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Department for Transport is still considering the results of its consultation. Let me make this point. Employment in Northern Ireland has risen by 32,000 since the election, and he knows, as I do, that the real long-term answer for the economy in Northern Ireland is a private sector revival. The public sector is very large in Northern Ireland. We need more small and medium-sized enterprises and more investment in Northern Ireland, and we need those jobs to come, which is what the G8 and the investment conference were all about.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

Q10. My constituent Jack Scerri, who has recently completed the National Citizen Service programme, visited my surgery on Saturday with Lisa Farrell of Staffordshire NCS to let me know just how much the programme had given him personal confidence and a clear sense of what he wished to do with his future. What plans does my right hon. Friend have for enabling as many young people as possible to take part in that transformative programme that he has championed?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for what he has said. It is a transformative programme. Some 66,000 young people have already been through it since 2010. It now forms part of what Prince Charles wants to see—a decade in which we encourage volunteering and we get 50% of all young people taking part in volunteering. I hope that Members from all parts of the House are having an experience similar to that of my hon. Friend, with people stopping them and talking about the NCS and what it has done for young people and their confidence. It really is a good programme, and I am delighted that it has all-party support.