amendment of the law

Stephen Twigg Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Twigg (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab/Co-op)]

Last week the Chancellor said that his ambition was to support the makers, the doers and the savers, but we also need to focus on the millions who want to make, who want to do and who dream of saving but cannot, either because they are not in work or because they are in low-paid employment. Let me say very clearly that I welcome the recent fall in unemployment, but long-term joblessness is still a major concern, as is the increasing level of under-employment in many of our communities.

I want to focus my remarks this afternoon on youth unemployment. In the city of Liverpool, 1,665 young people are facing long-term unemployment. This is an economic challenge, but it is also a social challenge. Recent research published by the Prince’s Trust has shown that about one in 10 young people in Liverpool have suffered mental health problems attributed in part to their unemployment. Many of them feel that they do not have a lot to live for. They may be depressed or feel that they have very little to contribute to society.

Tackling long-term unemployment is never easy. In my constituency, however, the previous Labour Government have a record of which we can be very proud. In 1997, the unemployment level of young people in West Derby was 850; by 2010, that had fallen to 335—a very significant fall though still much too big a figure. The future jobs fund played an important role in achieving that. I have seen its positive impact in my constituency in delivering opportunities, contrary to what Government Members have said, not only in the public sector but in the private and voluntary sectors, particularly through the fantastic role played by social enterprises. The future jobs fund was not perfect, but it was much better than the Government’s Work programme. In Liverpool, more people on the Work programme have received benefit sanctions than have found work. Different localities are seeing wildly different results. For example, in my constituency the ratio of job outcomes to referrals is just half what it is in Horsham. Such wide differences across the country serve to emphasise the need for solutions that are shaped locally.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling), the former Chancellor, spoke about the Government’s plans to cut public expenditure back to 1948 levels. Liverpool city council is facing drastic cuts. Over each of the past three years it has had to make savings of £176 million, and it has to make almost the same amount over the next three years—£156 million. In that context, I pay tribute to the remarkable record of Liverpool’s Labour council and Labour mayor, Joe Anderson, in prioritising jobs and apprenticeships, especially for young people. The mayoral youth contract involves working with businesses to take on apprentices to support young people back into work. In its first year, more than 100 young people who were otherwise facing long-term unemployment got into work. I welcome the progress that we have seen on a combined authority for the Liverpool city region. The city region has identified local growth sectors of advanced manufacturing, the Liverpool super-port, and the visitor economy, setting out in detail the skills needed by the sectors involved and what businesses and educational establishments need to do to deliver this change.

When Building Schools for the Future was cancelled in 2010, the mayor of Liverpool picked up the programme, and we are now delivering the rebuilding or refurbishment of 12 local secondary schools as part of Liverpool’s city deal. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) said, Liverpool has just become a social value city. Even in tough times, Liverpool has sought to give priority to getting people into work—in particular, ensuring that young people do not fall into the trap of long-term unemployment. As a result, youth long-term unemployment in my constituency has fallen to 290, which is hugely welcome.

The Budget inevitably focuses on the role of central Government, which provides a valuable framework, but solutions to long-term unemployment and the poverty that other Labour Members have talked about are best shaped locally by institutions rooted in our local communities—elected local councils, local businesses, and the local voluntary sector. That is why I very much welcome the fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) has said that Labour’s compulsory jobs guarantee will be commissioned by a partnership of local and central Government, taking the place of the traditional approach, under Governments of both parties, of a top-down, bigger-is-better model.

To deliver sustainable, properly paid jobs and apprenticeships for the future, the best approach must be central and local government working together. Only when we succeed in aligning schemes and programmes with the realities of local labour markets and local community priorities will we be able to tackle the scourge of long-term unemployment—in other words, by putting local communities in the driving seat. If we do that, we will have a real prospect of delivering help and support to the millions—I referred to them at the beginning of my speech—who want to make, who want to do and who dream of saving.