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Unemployment

It imposes serious constraints, because of the reduced time that staff can spend talking through clients' problems. More importantly, there has been a shortage of vacancies, so staff cannot send people out. The change has had a dramatic impact; none the less, I compliment the staff on all the work that they have been able to do for so many people. On a more general, national point, it is the skills shortages and the training issues that concern me. We need to get people who are unemployed back into work and ensure that people who leave school get opportunities for work. That means that they must have basic skills, but I have severe doubts about the Government's training and education policies, which are not allowing those people to gain the skills that they need to meet the challenges that they could face.