Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Ashworth and Mark Hoban

Monday 10th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The advice given is not given by Jobcentre Plus staff: we get private and public sector contractors in to give that support. We need to ensure that people setting up their businesses are signposted to other sources of advice and funding to give them the best possible start in getting their businesses off the ground.

[Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

6. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Work programme in reducing long-term youth unemployment in (a) Leicester and (b) the UK.

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

Nationally, more than 57,000 young people on the Work programme have found work and just under 10,000 have been in work for six months. Of those, about 80 are in Leicester.

[Jonathan Ashworth]

Unemployment and youth unemployment are higher in Leicester South than they were at the general election. The latest statistics show that about 3% of people have found work as a result of the Work programme. Many employers who took advantage of the future jobs fund tell me that they are shunning the Youth Contract or that they are sceptical about the Work programme. Given that the Minister’s own Department has said that the future jobs fund was of benefit to society, employers and those on it, does he now regret abolishing it?

[Mr Hoban]

The evidence from the future jobs fund demonstrated that the taxpayer was never going to recover the money that was spent on it and that it was 20 times more expensive than the work experience scheme, which is similar to it and from which we are getting good outcomes. Taking into account Labour’s fiddled figures, youth unemployment is lower today than it was in May 2010.

Northern Rock

Debate between Jonathan Ashworth and Mark Hoban

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

The directors of Northern Rock have been subject to enforcement action by the FSA, but I shall not go into detail about that. I recognise that the directors have their responsibility for the failure of Northern Rock, but the Labour party should also share some responsibility for the architecture of the financial regulation it put in place, which meant that no one was in a position to prevent Northern Rock from being an outlier when it came to its dependence on wholesale funding. It was a consequence of that dependence that led to Northern Rock’s being nationalised and we should welcome the fact that it is returning to the private sector.

[Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

Will the Financial Secretary confirm, so that we are clear, that the Treasury did not apply to the European Commission for an extension of the 2013 deadline? Will he also confirm, further to his answer to the hon. Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen), that given the price of shares in Lloyds and RBS, the Government and UKFI have no immediate plans to sell off their shareholdings in those banks as well?