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Work Programme (Wales)

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I hear from businesses across Wales and the United Kingdom that they want a Government who are on their side and who are tackling the barriers to growth and the non-tariff barriers to growth. That is what this Government are doing and continue to do. Devolution means, of course, that the enterprise zones and the powers and economic levers that contribute to the economic environment belong to the Welsh Government. I welcome the recent announcement on the five Welsh enterprise zones, although I regret that it took more than six months to reach that position and that even now we still do not have details on how those zones will operate in Wales. As one of them is to be in this area, I very much hope that Opposition Members will be pressing the Labour-led Administration in Cardiff Bay to let us know what the details are, so that prospective investors are able to set up in Wales and in this area. That shows how important it is that the right policies are developed and that both Governments work together to try to solve the problems. I have talked for some time and have been generous in taking interventions. As I have said, there is no bottomless purse on which the Government can draw to fund jobs. We must ensure that, where we do intervene, we are effective in finding routes into work for people in Wales. There are 12,638 job vacancies in Wales at the moment, and the Work programme is being carried out by organisations such as Working Links, Rehab JobFit and Jobcentre Plus. In addition, there is also Careers Wales, which largely comes under the Welsh Government, as a note I received the other day reminded me. A visit with the Prime Minister to the Working Links office in Caerphilly this summer demonstrated to me the excellent work that is going on in Wales. People are producing tailored plans to enable those who have been unemployed for a long time to get back into work.