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New Deal (Scotland)
8. Mr. Jim Murphy (Eastwood): If he will make a statement about the new deal in Scotland. [103682]
The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities (Ms Tessa Jowell): The new deal is working in Scotland. The latest figures show that more than 19,000 young people and more than 2,500 long-term unemployed adults have found jobs through the new deal. We are on course to meet our manifesto commitment of getting 250,000 young people off benefit and into work across Britain.
Mr. Murphy: I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Is she aware that, despite the opposition of all the parties in Scotland, long-term youth unemployment in Scotland has decreased by three quarters, from just over 16,000 to just over 4,000? Does she agree that the nature of the problem has changed, away from an entire generation that had been ignored and unemployed to a much smaller number of hard-core, long-term unemployed young people, where unemployment may be endemic throughout the family? Can she assure the House that, as the new deal develops and the nature of the problem changes, she will bear those experiences in mind?
Ms Jowell: I thank my hon. Friend for those perceptive comments, which reflect a clear understanding of the challenges facing the new deal. He is right to say that,
building on the success of the new deal to date, we are turning our attention to providing more intensive support for young people coming on to the first stage of the new deal--the gateway--who lack basic skills and for whom that lack, unless it is addressed, will be a long-term obstacle to their employability. That is an important practical step towards tackling the problem of inter-generational unemployment, to which my hon. Friend referred.
Madam Speaker: Order. I remind hon. Members who are rising that the question relates entirely to Scotland. I call Mr. Beggs. If he is prepared to put a question relating to Scotland, I will take it.
Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I represent the constituency in Northern Ireland closest to Scotland.
Madam Speaker: That will not do.
Mr. Beggs: I am now proceeding to my question, Madam Speaker.
I welcome the announced success of the new deal in Scotland, but will the Minister confirm that it has dramatically reduced unemployment not only there, but elsewhere in the United Kingdom? Will she assure the House that she will ask those in the Government who can influence investment and a reduction in unemployment to encourage opportunity for those who come on to the employment market through the new deal? That is the only way in which people who have previously been unemployed can share in the nation's increasing wealth.
Madam Speaker:
The Minister should be aware that the substantive question relates entirely to Scotland and her answer must relate to Scotland.
Ms Jowell:
I accept your guidance, Madam Speaker. I can confirm that the experience of the new deal in Scotland is representative of that across the United Kingdom. The key issue is the promotion of employability as an important part of maintaining economic stability and the benefits of economic growth.
Mr. Richard Allan (Sheffield, Hallam)
rose--
Madam Speaker:
Now we shall see how close Yorkshire is to Scotland.
Mr. Allan:
I understand that the new deal programme in Scotland has underspent considerably in respect of initial projections. Has the Minister had any discussions with her colleagues in Scotland about how to reallocate those resources, and can she explain how future new deal enhancements such as those she described will take place, given the Scottish dimension and the devolution of the programme to the Scottish Parliament?
Ms Jowell:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. The new deal is a United Kingdom programme and I regularly meet the Scottish new deal task force, to which I pay tribute. Certainly the initial costs have been
Mr. Ian Davidson (Glasgow, Pollok):
My constituency is not the nearest to Northern Ireland, nor to England and Wales, but it is one of the nearest to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Eastwood (Mr. Murphy).
Is the Minister aware that, although the new deal has undoubtedly been an enormous success in Scotland, the figures recently produced by the Trades Union Congress show that constituencies where the fall in unemployment has been greatest tend to have the least absolute unemployment? The constituencies that were worst off remain the worst off, even after the introduction of the new deal. Does she accept that many young people who have vanished from the ranks of the unemployed have not gone into jobs, but seem to have disappeared from the registers altogether? There seems to be no record of where they have gone and there should be additional effort and additional expenditure to make sure that the real needs of those youngsters at the very bottom of the pile are followed up.
Ms Jowell:
My hon. Friend makes two important points. He referred first to the level of long-term unemployment in respect of which the new deal will build on its success and work harder in areas where unemployment rates have traditionally been highest. We have to redouble our efforts there to ensure that the young and older long-term unemployed people are given the skills to get them off benefit into work.
My hon. Friend's second point is a matter of real concern. Across the United Kingdom, about 160,000 young people appear to have dropped off the edge of our society. The new deal clearly has important help and support to offer them, and I hope that, in due course, we shall be able to introduce proposals to extend help to them.
9. Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley):
What steps his Department is taking to support the role of trade unions in developing skills. [103683]
10. Ms Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North):
What steps his Department is taking to support the role of trade unions in developing skills. [103684]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett):
We have made £12 million available to all trade unions. What we are doing involves 100 projects, and 50 unions working with employers. They have already managed to provide basic skills and development courses for 200,000 employees. That has introduced new possibilities for negotiation and bargaining in the workplace, brought together employers
Mr. Pike:
I welcome the establishment of the union learning fund, but how many other unions might be able to take advantage of it, and what will be the priority in tackling the need for basic skills?
Mr. Blunkett:
The programme has been massively oversubscribed by trade unions wishing to be part of it. As I have said, it involves unions working with employers and, in many instances, working together. Basic skills, including skills in information technology, are a key priority.
It is entertaining to note that the Transport and General Workers Union, working with colleges in the north-west of England, is using transport cafes to lay on information and communication technology courses for road hauliers and coach drivers who are stopping off for half an hour--thus bringing about an entirely new version of "chips with everything".
Ms Morgan:
Women now constitute 47 per cent. of the work force and 46 per cent. of trade union membership. Can my right hon. Friend reassure me that the principles of equal opportunity apply to all applications to the fund, so that women will have an opportunity to fulfil themselves through the trade union movement?
Mr. Blunkett:
I can give that assurance. We are keen for part-time workers to be able to take advantage of the scheme. Along with the local trust in Ipswich and Gardner Merchant, Unison has provided an across-the-board programme of basic in-service training. The National Union of Teachers, working with the Royal College of Midwives, has introduced an exemplary scheme offering information and communications technology training for its members in continuing professional development.
Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby):
I want to ask about the development of skills by trade unions in my county of Leicestershire. I have here a document sent to me by the six teachers' unions, expressing their wish to develop skills in Leicestershire schools. They say that, unfortunately, because of the reduction in standard spending assessment, 39 per cent. of secondary schools are reducing staff and, moreover, that 30,000 secondary pupils will be in larger classes next year.
Given the desire of trade unions to develop skills and education, will the Secretary of State address the problems that they have raised, which result from a reduction in the education SSA? Furthermore, instead of waffling on about reducing class sizes for children aged five, six and seven, will he accept that class sizes for all other age groups are increasing in Leicestershire and elsewhere?
Mr. Blunkett:
First, I will not accept that. Secondly, the SSA has not been reduced, and nor has the revenue support grant to match it. The SSA is going up by 5.3 per cent., and the Department has directly invested £50 million in addition to that. Over the spending review
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham):
As a member of the proletariat and a strong supporter of constructive trade unionism, and recognising that no one in the country has done more to create the climate in which such trade unionism can flourish than my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Tebbit of Chingford, may I assure the Secretary of State that Conservative Members accept that unions can assist in developing skills?
Will the right hon. Gentleman also accept two straightforward points from me? First, whatever unions' inputs to the bargaining for skills programme, employee development schemes, the learning and skills councils and the union learning fund, we will soon need evidence from an independent report of their outputs in terms of the creation of new jobs. Secondly, will the Secretary of State accept that, given that only 19 per cent. of private sector employees are members of trade unions, it is imperative that training should be led by businesses small, medium and large?
Mr. Blunkett:
That is precisely why we have indicated that at least 40 per cent. of the places on the new learning and skills councils will be for those who have immediate or immediate past experience of business and commerce. Just to put the record straight for the London TEC Council, a total of £5 billion is going into adult learning.
I accept that Lord Tebbit has enormous experience of trade unionism from the British Air Line Pilots Association. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the association will have access to those funds. What we will not be able to do is use the resources to train people to ride bicycles.
Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire):
Is my right hon. Friend aware of the different tradition of the Workers Educational Association and university extramural education for trade unionists, from which at least three Members who are currently in the House have benefited and from which many others have benefited in the past? Is anything being done to refurbish and remobilise that tradition, which has significant benefit in the spin-off for communities in that non-vocational education is developed?
Mr. Blunkett:
Through the national learning and skills councils, the WEA will, for the first time, have direct access to overall national resources, which will be a major boon in sorting out the current disparities in funding throughout the country. As my hon. Friend will be aware, we are keen to learn from the experience of the extramural provision from which he and others have benefited and to replicate it through the residential colleges, which continue to do an excellent job in providing mature students with adult learning on access and diploma courses, which often lead to people not only going into higher education, but returning to the workplace and their community to which they can then contribute the skills and potential that they have been able to develop on those courses.
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