Employment: New Jobs Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Lord Eatwell
Main Page: Lord Eatwell (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Eatwell's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(10 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Freud
My Lords, the point that I have been making is that those jobs lost in the public sector have been more than replaced—by a factor of three—in the private sector right the way round the country. That includes the regions as much as the south. Let me make a point about efficiency in the public service. The size of the workforce has decreased by 15% since 2010, so the Civil Service is now the smallest since the Second World War, but output has not decreased. Productivity in DWP, for example, has been steadily improving, and improved by 12% in 2011-12.
Lord Eatwell (Lab)
The Minister has referred continuously to “good news”. He has just referred to issues of efficiency in the public sector. Will he refer to the collapse in productivity in the private sector, which is the counterpart of the high level of employment, as also good news?
Lord Freud
Well, my Lords, I have very good news for the noble Lord. We are currently restructuring the benefits system to help with that productivity issue. One of the things that universal credit does is to make sure that we have as flexible a labour force as possible. That is something that employers around the country welcome.