Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the rise in long-term unemployment for 18 to 24 year olds shown in the labour market statistics on 12 November 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Over the last year the number of 18-24 year olds unemployed for a year or more on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure has fallen by around a quarter. The number claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than a year has nearly halved.

Under the last Government, figures for long term JSA were kept artificially low by “breaking” claims with training allowances. This Government stopped doing that when we introduced the Work Programme, meaning we now have a true measure of the number of young people claiming benefit due to unemployment.