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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

I must make more progress, because I am aware that others will want to speak. We have worked hard to unblock more than a dozen housing and infrastructure projects that had run into difficulties, and I have given some examples. We have particular concern about the impact of the recession on young people. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past, when previous Governments consigned generations to years on benefits and cycles of dependency. There is help that the Government can offer, and we have committed funds to that. However well those who got their GCSE results last week did, the Government guarantee them a place in school or college this September. We negotiated the extra £655 million in the Budget to fund the extra 55,000 places because staying on is the best thing for individuals and the economy as we prepare for recovery. Many of those who got A-level results, the week before, will go to university, with more places being funded than ever before, but other 18 to 24-year-olds will be ready to enter the world of work. The labour market is tough right now. It will not be easy for everyone to find employment. That is why the Government are doing more. The £1 billion future jobs fund has already made progress, with 700 new jobs being developed and funded in Wiltshire and Cornwall for unemployed young people. Yesterday we announced that from next year those jobs will be available to young people who have been out of work for 10 months rather than 12 as was previously the case. Young people still seeking jobs after 12 months will, from next year, have to take up a job offer, training or a community taskforce place as part of the young person’s guarantee. In addition, the Government will support 45,000 young people in getting jobs in growing industries such as retail, the care sector and tourism. However, the Government cannot do those things for young people on their own. That is why we launched the Backing Young Britain campaign that the Prime Minister highlighted yesterday, when 150 companies joined the Government in backing young Britain, offering 85,000 new opportunities for young people, from new jobs to internships, training and apprenticeships. That is what I mean by real help now and making national policies work regionally: making a real difference to young people and providing opportunities to work so that they do not have to go to bigger towns and cities to look for work and do not get left on the scrap heap because they never had the chance to develop new skills. As a Government, we refuse to abandon a generation of young people to worklessness as the Tories did in the recessions of the ’80s and ’90s...when the hon. Member for North Wiltshire was a special adviser in the Tory government.