Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Kali Mountford (Labour). It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Wednesday, 11 October 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Unemployment

Question: What steps he is taking to assist back into work those in Northern Ireland who are economically inactive.

Answer: Despite the fact that the Northern Ireland economy is supporting its highest ever number of jobs and has below-average unemployment, it is still one of the worst economic inactivity hotspots in the UK. In Northern Ireland, a person of working age is 74 per cent. more likely to be receiving incapacity benefit than a working-age person in England. Therefore, we are implementing the pathways to work programme for people who receive incapacity benefit and have increased funding over the baseline by an additional £3.7 million over the next two years from the new skills and science fund to achieve that.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 92588; 450 c286
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Lead
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Employment schemes Northern Ireland Unemployment Pathways to work programme
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk