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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the matter of the response to the economic downturn: tackling unemployment. I should like to reiterate my welcome to the first Regional Grand Committee not just in the south-west but in the whole of England. As always, it is a pleasure for the south-west to be a trail-blazer. I should like to add my thanks to Devon county council for agreeing to host us here in Exeter. This is an historic day. The Grand Committee is an opportunity for all MPs in the south-west to get together to talk about their local regions, and the things that matter to the people in their constituencies and to ensure that those concerns are heard. Right now there is no greater concern than the effect of the current global economic recession, which we are about to debate. Grand Committees are a fantastic opportunity for the people of the south-west to hold both central Government and me as a regional Minister to account, to scrutinise national policies, to assess their regional impact and to tell Government through their representatives here what more they can do for the south-west. When the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) was in Government, he developed the system of regional Government offices to help co-ordinate Government action on the basis of subsidiarity—a concept much in vogue at the time. The regional MPs have the opportunity to hold a regional Minister to account for the work of those Government offices set up by the Conservative Government, and this Committee is a great forum for doing so.