Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Luke Akehurst and Alison McGovern

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern]

I am glad the hon. Gentleman is bothered by the employment rate and I hope he is bothered by the record of his party, which saw employment fall off a cliff after the pandemic and never recover. We were an outlier in that; it did not happen anywhere else in the world. As it is, our jobcentres, which, as we have said, are full of brilliant staff, see just one in six employers ever consider using them to recruit. We will change that. We have a new strategy. The Secretary of State recently announced our plan to ensure that the Department of Work and Pensions serves businesses and that we get the best jobs into jobcentres so that people can take them up, improve their lives and grow our economy.

[Luke Akehurst (North Durham) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle benefit fraud by criminal gangs.