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Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On

Yes, we need to see how well the quality part-time work pilots went, and I cannot yet give an answer on that because we are considering the matter at the moment and the final report has not come to Ministers. Obviously, we do not want to fund initiatives that do not make a difference and do not work. When we know what works, we shall have the opportunity to use our mainstream funding for training—it will come mainly from the Departments for Innovation, Universities and Skills and for Children, Skills and Families, and the Learning and Skills Council—to try to ensure that we address the imbalance of how well courses relate to the needs of men and women. If we have evidence, it will give us an opportunity to use mainstream funding rather better, and that is very much the answer to my hon. Friend's question. It is not always the case that one should or could find another £100 million, £12.5 million or whatever is required to do something if one has found out through pilot projects that something works and there is a big programme, such as LSC's, of rolling out workplace learning and training. There is no reason why the money that it is spending should not take account of what works and what is needed in the economy. One hopes to go forward in that way, but I am not yet in a position to tell my hon. Friend how things have gone.