---

Work Programme

The problem with the future jobs fund was that it involved temporary placements in public sector roles. We believe that sustainable employment is created in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and elsewhere in Wales by supporting and encouraging the growth of the private sector to create long-term, sustainable jobs that are not funded by a deficit that we cannot afford. Our goal is to do everything that we can to support and encourage business growth and to provide schemes—apprenticeships, for example—that bring young people into a work environment. [Hon. Members: ““It’s not working.””] Well, I have looked at the unemployment figures month by month over the past year, and we have seen ups and downs in the labour market in Wales. However, there have also been increases in private sector employment, which is what we need. Through the new enterprise allowance that I launched earlier this year, which is in the process of going nationwide, we aim to support people into self-employment, too. I say this to the hon. Gentleman: continuing to borrow more money than we can afford to, in order to fund a bloated public sector that we inherited from the previous Government, is not an option. One reason why he and his colleagues were unsuccessful at the general election was that they had introduced unsustainable economic plans, and the British people realised it.