May I return my right hon. Friend to the point he a moment ago about the importance of information, advice and guidance? Blackpool council is responding to the Government's initiatives by putting together teams of workers who can offer appropriate advice and guidance to young people as they need it,...

May I return my right hon. Friend to the point he a moment ago about the importance of information, advice and guidance? Blackpool council is responding to the Government's initiatives by putting together teams of workers who can offer appropriate advice and guidance to young people as they need it,...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. If the Government are really serious about adopting a work-first approach, it must apply from the initial interview—from someone’s initial contact with the Department for Work and Pensions. We heard examples such as that of a mother who had been widowed and who...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. If the Government are really serious about adopting a work-first approach, it must apply from the initial interview—from someone’s initial contact with the Department for Work and Pensions. We heard examples such as that of a mother who had been widowed and who...

That intervention has highlighted to the Minister the sort of detail that the Select Committee went into. We not only questioned witnesses on numerators and denominators—I had to think back for a minute to my schoolgirl maths to try to remember what they were—but compared ratio with rate. I will...

That intervention has highlighted to the Minister the sort of detail that the Select Committee went into. We not only questioned witnesses on numerators and denominators—I had to think back for a minute to my schoolgirl maths to try to remember what they were—but compared ratio with rate. I will...

I give way to the hon. Gentleman, another colleague.

I give way to the hon. Gentleman, another colleague.

The hon. Gentleman anticipates a point that I shall come to. As part of an employment strategy, in determining what we mean by sustainable we must also consider what makes a job sustainable. We need to examine what barriers there are that cause people to leave work. For many people...

The hon. Gentleman anticipates a point that I shall come to. As part of an employment strategy, in determining what we mean by sustainable we must also consider what makes a job sustainable. We need to examine what barriers there are that cause people to leave work. For many people...

I give way to my Select Committee colleague.

I give way to my Select Committee colleague.

I wholeheartedly endorse everything that the Chairman of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney), said. We engaged in the report because the subject is at the centre of the Government’s welfare to work programme and because getting employment strategies right is vital for...

I wholeheartedly endorse everything that the Chairman of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney), said. We engaged in the report because the subject is at the centre of the Government’s welfare to work programme and because getting employment strategies right is vital for...

When we discussed the Leitch report, we did so from the point of view of those out of work. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that we did not receive satisfactory answers to our questions about how people who were out of work would engage with the skills agenda...

When we discussed the Leitch report, we did so from the point of view of those out of work. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that we did not receive satisfactory answers to our questions about how people who were out of work would engage with the skills agenda...

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what public funding has been spent on adult (a) literacy and (b) numeracy in Blackpool North and Fleetwood in each of the last five years. - Inc table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what public funding has been spent on adult (a) literacy and (b) numeracy in Blackpool North and Fleetwood in each of the last five years. - Inc table.