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Work Programme (Wales)

Interestingly, I thought that this was of such importance to Wales that I asked my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Wales to sit in during the passage of the 2011 Act, and he was on the Front Bench throughout. It is not so far away from when the Labour party were in government and the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd knows that such a decision is a pretty big statement, in terms of appreciating the issues and ensuring that should those clauses have been reached, my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State would have been there to field the questions. Therefore, I take criticism from no one on that point, because I tried to ensure that Welsh interests were best represented.