Oral Answers to Questions

Simon Danczuk Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right in every word, because we see a decline in youth unemployment. The figures in Salisbury and the south-west are remarkable—the long-term youth claimant count has come down by 37% in the past year. To further drive down youth unemployment, we need to ensure that the training opportunities and education are there. That is why university technical colleges are so important.

Youth unemployment is still too high. When we strip out those in full-time education, it is 8.7%. That is much lower than France, Italy, Spain or the EU average, but it is still too high and we are committed to getting it down.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Q6. My constituent, Paul Cowdrey, is to lose his home after raising concerns about overcharging by solicitor Michael Sandler. That solicitor from hell found a loophole by which he could sue my constituent for complaining. The Solicitors Regulation Authority described Sandler as “morally reprehensible” but said it is powerless to act. Will the Prime Minister look at that case and intervene to stop solicitors running rings around their regulators?

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to look into that case. As the hon. Gentleman will know, the legal regulators and the legal ombudsman, which were improved over previous years, are independent of the Government. It is therefore not possible to intervene directly, but I can arrange for a meeting between the hon. Gentleman and the Minister with responsibility for legal services to discuss what remedies are open to the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. If that meeting will be helpful, I will certainly put it in place.