Oral Answers to Questions

Pamela Nash Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

I regularly discuss such matters with my colleagues in Cabinet. We have rolled out a range of measures under the economic pact—devolution of corporation tax is one, and the investment conference following up on the G8 is another. We are seeing real progress on projects such as the Lisanelly shared campus, as well as increased take-up of the Government’s financial schemes to promote lending to business, so the economic pact is already delivering for Northern Ireland in a range of ways.

[Pamela Nash (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

6. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

8. What steps the Government are taking to tackle youth unemployment in Northern Ireland.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Dr Andrew Murrison)]

The questions are timely because last week’s figures show that youth unemployment in Northern Ireland has fallen by 3.3 percentage points over the year, and is 175,000 lower than in May 2010. The Government’s long-term economic plan is promoting a sustainable economic recovery from the mess we inherited, and it is directly assisting young people into real jobs that have a future.

[Pamela Nash]

I welcome those youth unemployment figures. However, Northern Ireland’s youth unemployment figures remain significantly higher, at 19.2%, than in the rest of the UK. That has a big impact not only on those young people, but on the security of Northern Ireland. Why have the Government allowed this situation to persist, and what will they do to stop it?

[Dr Murrison]

The matter to which the hon. Lady refers is of course primarily the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. I must observe, however, that unemployment among young people in Northern Ireland rose by 35% between May 1997 and May 2010; it has gone down by 3.3 percentage points in this year alone.