Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Monday 11th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

According to the ILO measure, 974,000 young people are unemployed, about 300,000 of whom are full-time students. Over the past few months there has been an increase of 66,000 in the number of young people in work.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The Minister mentioned the so-called 1 million new jobs. With reference to the labour force survey, will he tell me how many of those so-called new jobs arise from reclassification and how many represent people who are under-employed?

[Mr Hoban]

If the hon. Lady looks at the labour force survey, she will see that the figure is 1 million net new jobs. She talks about people being under-employed. I hope that she is not being condescending to those of her constituents and mine who are working part-time and want to work part-time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Monday 5th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the frustration among those who are working at seeing people who can work turn down jobs and simply get away with it. That is why we have introduced a new, tougher regime of sanctions, so that someone who turns down a job without good reason for the first time will lose their benefits for 13 weeks. That then escalates so that someone who turns down a job three times in a year will lose their benefits for three years. That is a very clear sanction, it is a very clear deterrent and it sends a very clear message that we expect people who have reasonable job offers to work and pay their own way.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

We are talking about sanctions, carrots and sticks, and the Work programme is supposed to help people back into work. A constituent who had been on the Work programme and recently found part-time work has contacted me. He was concerned that the Work programme had been little or no help and that, although his employment was due to his own hard work, the Work programme contractor was paid anyway. What has the Minister done to prevent this deadweight loss?

[Mr Hoban]

The hon. Lady should examine some of the schemes that the previous Government introduced, under which people were paid regardless of the outcome—regardless of whether they helped people get back into work. Our Work programme pays people by results; it ensures that contractors are paid only where people get jobs, and sustainable jobs at that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Monday 10th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are implementing that scheme in conjunction with the Greater London authority, and it will provide an important way of getting more young people into work. That will be to their benefit and to the benefit of society and taxpayers generally.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Further to the Minister for Work’s answer to my question on 6 December on the International Labour Organisation’s meeting at which the crisis of youth unemployment was discussed, will the Minister tell me what briefing he has received from the UK representatives, given the damage that the eurozone crisis is doing to manufacturing in my constituency and to the possibilities for young people who want to enter industry?

[Mr Hoban]

I am sure that the hon. Lady will welcome the youth contract and the work we are doing to ensure that young people come off benefit and get into work. She should also recognise that youth unemployment is lower now than it was in 2010, once we take into account policy changes. We are tackling the issues, but we do recognise the impact of the eurozone on our economy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

With regard to the problems at RBS this week, my constituent David Robinson has been unable to access his funds, including disability allowance, from his account with thinkbanking. It is an internet-based bank that uses the RBS platform, so he could not go into an RBS branch to resolve his problems. Will the Minister please make contact with RBS about internet banking users and make sure that my constituents—and everyone else—are not unduly affected?

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)]

The hon. Lady makes an important point, and I spoke to Stephen Hester this afternoon to find out what progress RBS has made in resolving its issues. It introduced measures to help people who can access branches, but she makes a very important point about internet banking, and RBS is very keen to learn the lessons from those problems and to put in place contingency arrangements for the future. I encourage her to get her constituent to write to RBS, and, if he has suffered additional costs as a consequence of the situation, to make that claim to it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are very fortunate in this country. Because the Government took difficult decisions to tackle the deficit when we came into office, we are in a much stronger place now—consider the turbulence in the eurozone. The difficult decisions that we took ensured that we stepped back from the brink of bankruptcy.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Global action on regulating the financial services sector through groups such as the G20 is vital. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee recommended a pre-funded deposit insurance scheme. It said:

“The Government should move towards pre-funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as soon as”

possible. Why has the Treasury turned its back on that important measure?

[Mr Hoban]

If the hon. Lady speaks to building societies, which are finding it difficult to lend at the moment, she will hear their concern about the amount that they pay towards the financial services compensation scheme. Contributing to a pre-funded scheme would add to that burden and reduce the ability of banks and building societies to lend to support the recovery.

Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill

Debate between Mark Hoban and Alison McGovern

Tuesday 26th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The Minister has talked about what happened in the past and about the actions of the last Labour Government. Will he tell us whether his party supported the recapitalisation of the banks that protected our financial services system, which led to the deficit?

[Mr Hoban]

Yes, we did support the recapitalisation of the banks, but I am not sure where the hon. Lady’s point is leading. The deficit is a consequence of the huge growth in spending under the last Government, and their failure to ensure that the fiscal position was sustainable.

This year, the child trust fund would have cost more than half a billion pounds, and that money would have been locked in for up to 18 years instead of supporting people now. That is a luxury that we simply cannot afford, given the fiscal challenge that we face. We also could not afford to introduce a new scheme like the saving gateway, which would have cost £300 million over the next five years, just as we started to tackle that challenge. Nor can we afford to continue to spend £150 million every year on giving cash payments to all pregnant women, whatever they spend the money on and whatever their incomes.