Business of the House

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s concern. I would be misleading him if I said I could find time for a debate, but after Prorogation and when we have a debate on the Queen’s Speech, depending on what is in it, he might be able to draw to the attention of Ministers the concern that he has just expressed.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

Over the Easter recess I spent a morning at our local job club, run by Staffordshire Moorlands community voluntary services. They are having enormous success in getting some of the hardest to place people back into work, including on the Work programme. Could the Leader of the House find time for a debate on the role of the voluntary sector in the Government’s Work programme and in finding work for difficult to place people?

[Sir George Young]

I commend my hon. Friend on her activity during the Easter recess, and I commend the work that voluntary organisations are doing in delivering the Work programme, which has been calibrated to encourage them to help find work for people for whom it has historically been difficult to find work. I commend the work that is taking place in her constituency. The Work programme is the biggest back-to-work programme that the country has ever seen. It has already helped 300,000 people. We hope it will help more than 3 million people. I cannot promise a debate in the very near future, but there may be opportunities to develop this dialogue in the new Session.