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Pre-Budget Report

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The fact that unemployment is so much lower now is a result of many of the actions that we took to ensure that businesses had flexibility over cash flow and that there was guaranteed new help for young people after nine months. We were, however, conscious of the need to do more than that, which is why we said in the pre-Budget report that no young person should be out of work for longer than six months without being offered a job, training or community service.