Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Maggie Throup Excerpts
Thursday 22nd September 2022

(2 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Penny Mordaunt Portrait Penny Mordaunt
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The hon. Gentleman can have a statement from a Health Minister in nanoseconds. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will be at the Dispatch Box and he should feel free to raise those issues with her. If he has any difficulty in obtaining clarity—no doubt he is interested in local schemes—I will of course assist him in getting those answers.

Maggie Throup Portrait Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)
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Next Tuesday 27 September, I am holding the Erewash jobs and community fair 2022. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, it is an in-person event with local and regional businesses attending to promote their job vacancies and apprenticeship opportunities. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we must use whatever levers we have, including job fairs, to promote the importance of a healthy and productive workforce? Can we have a debate in Government time to explore other levers that we can use to ensure that we have the workforce that we need for productivity?

Penny Mordaunt Portrait Penny Mordaunt
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I thank my hon. Friend for raising that important issue. We have a great track record in this area: we have very low unemployment, we have 2 million more women in work than in 2010, and we have halved the disability employment gap. In addition to the work that the Department for Work and Pensions and other Government Departments have been doing, that is down to local engagement, such as job fairs. I thank her for all the work that she has done in her constituency to support her constituents to find jobs and get into work—sometimes for the first time.