Milburn Review: Interim Report
Debate between Richard Foord and Andrew Western(1 week, 3 days ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Andrew Western
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, and I know that the Secretary of State is interested in what we can do to increase the support available to self-employed people of all ages.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
Many young people get their first job on the checkouts. The boss of Next, Lord Wolfson, said that two years ago Next received 10 applications for every job vacancy, but that number has since risen to 19 applications per vacancy. He said nothing about how retailers have stripped out jobs at checkouts. Next made a profit of over £1 billion last year. Does the Minister accept that retailers also have a responsibility to create opportunities for young people?
Andrew Western
I do accept that, and the hon. Member will be aware of our work with Charlie Mayfield. He may also be aware that we have recently appointed Marc Bolland, a former chief executive of Marks & Spencer, as the lead non-executive director in the Department. We are incredibly interested in how we can work in partnership with retail to deliver more job opportunities for young people.