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Topical debate on Thursday, 23 October 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Tony McNulty. The answering member was James Clappison.

Work and Skills

Topical debate on work and skills.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
481 c471-93 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Tony McNulty | 481 c471 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the House has considered the matter of work and skills." I am very pleased that...
Mark Pritchard | 481 c471 (Link to this contribution) The Minister and I are former Harrow councillors, and I remember discussing unemployment in that are...
Show all contributions (64)
Tony McNulty | 481 c471-2 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making it clear that we served on Harr...
David Drew | 481 c477 (Link to this contribution) With that in mind, does the hon. Gentleman not think it rather strange that the Department should co...
James Clappison | 481 c478-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point extremely well. Far too much of what has been claimed to have been ac...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c479-80 (Link to this contribution) I came along to make one or two interventions, but I am pleased to have the opportunity to make a sl...
James Clappison | 481 c477-8 (Link to this contribution) We would certainly join forces with the hon. Gentleman and others in giving individual help to peopl...
John Penrose | 481 c478 (Link to this contribution) It was welcome to hear the Minister set out a couple of examples of how the Train to Gain budget wil...
Tony McNulty | 481 c474 (Link to this contribution) I accept that. That is why I tried to use dynamism in the most literal sense, to mean a lot of chang...
John Penrose | 481 c473-4 (Link to this contribution) The Minister mentioned the dynamism of the labour market. Does he accept that part of the problem wi...
Tony McNulty | 481 c473 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point and I will look into the technicalities of it. The transition into work should ...
Tony McNulty | 481 c472 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) is in his place. Pointing to attendance ...
Oliver Heald | 481 c472 (Link to this contribution) In the Select Committee yesterday, we heard evidence that long-term unemployment is set to quadruple...
Tony McNulty | 481 c472-3 (Link to this contribution) That is a reasonable point. In the broader context, the National Economic Council, the regional econ...
Philip Hollobone | 481 c473 (Link to this contribution) I am receiving a growing number of complaints from constituents who are taking up jobs after being o...
Tony McNulty | 481 c472 (Link to this contribution) I see that the Whip has moved from the Front Bench to the Back Bench, and I shall give way so that h...
Simon Burns | 481 c472 (Link to this contribution) I am disappointed that the Minister thinks that I wish to make a facetious point, given the seriousn...
James Clappison | 481 c476-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very important point about statistical trends, and it is borne out by what pe...
Oliver Heald | 481 c476 (Link to this contribution) Vacancies are often mentioned as a sign of dynamism in the labour market, but is my hon. Friend awar...
Tony McNulty | 481 c474 (Link to this contribution) No, it was just inspiration from somewhere or other. Where it came from is not the hon. Gentleman's ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c474 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his promotion and on his new job. He talked about Bradford & ...
Tony McNulty | 481 c474-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what my hon. Friend says. I do not agree that there is now a mixed economy, for...
Oliver Heald | 481 c475 (Link to this contribution) Is this really new money? The £350 million Train to Gain budget was already there. Is the £100 milli...
Tony McNulty | 481 c475 (Link to this contribution) I said very clearly that the £350 million was about a refocus given the context of the situation. I ...
Paul Rowen | 481 c481-2 (Link to this contribution) I too welcome the Minister to his position. It is the first time that we have debated together. I we...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c480-1 (Link to this contribution) My concern is that we have a lot of qualifications, but underneath the qualification the level of sk...
John Penrose | 481 c483 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that an awful lot of the Government's claimed increase in the number of ap...
John Penrose | 481 c482 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman mentioned redundancies. Does he agree that, particularly with the ...
Paul Rowen | 481 c483 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree, which is why I am interested in knowing what the Minister meant when he spoke ab...
Oliver Heald | 481 c483 (Link to this contribution) I begin by welcoming the commitment of the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for Rochdale ...
John Howell | 481 c489 (Link to this contribution) I think that I am going to be intervened on for a second time.
John Howell | 481 c487-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to pick up on the skills aspect, about which my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfor...
John Howell | 481 c489 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that valid point, which illustrates again the need for flexibility and fo...
John Penrose | 481 c488-9 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the issue is not only about recognising the local skills needs of the...
Paul Rowen | 481 c490 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a barrier to that flexibility is fixed start dates built around a...
Paul Rowen | 481 c482 (Link to this contribution) I agree, and later I shall come to what we can do to deal with those two problems. This month, the n...
Oliver Heald | 481 c483-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree. I was going to make the point that level 2 does not really hack it, and that we need to pro...
John Penrose | 481 c485-6 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the factors that the Minister should consider in dealing with ...
Oliver Heald | 481 c486 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The next point that I had intended to make was about the winner's c...
Speaker | 481 c483 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has used up his time allocation.
John Penrose | 481 c486 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to have pre-empted my hon. Friend.
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c486 (Link to this contribution) I am interested in what the hon. Gentleman is saying about children from illiterate households who c...
Oliver Heald | 481 c486 (Link to this contribution) Not at all. It is good that we are thinking along the same lines. With reference to the winner's cu...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c489 (Link to this contribution) The distinction of second intervener is one of which I am very proud. The hon. Gentleman has been t...
Oliver Heald | 481 c486-7 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the point. I have a very good special school in my constituency, Woolgrove, which ta...
John Howell | 481 c489 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point. I agree with him, and he has illustrated my point that one...
Tony McNulty | 481 c492-3 (Link to this contribution) I shall certainly take that back, but I am sure that my hon. Friend knows the answer as well as I do...
John Howell | 481 c490 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. Businesses do not work to a set timetable, and the barriers that inhibi...
John Howell | 481 c489-90 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. As I said, it is important to ensure that skills progr...
Oliver Heald | 481 c489 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend now has a hat trick of interventions. Does my hon. Friend agree that half the vacanc...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c492 (Link to this contribution) One of the points made by the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell) concerned larger employers sustai...
Tony McNulty | 481 c492 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman wants to write to me about the specifics, I will certainly have a look, but he...
Paul Rowen | 481 c492 (Link to this contribution) The Minister was making a point about flexibility, which I think is important. Six months ago, I enc...
Tony McNulty | 481 c490-2 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not intervening on the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell). I felt for a while that...
Oliver Heald | 481 c493 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister accept that the changed circumstances we are seeing are a bit of a shock to the sy...
Tony McNulty | 481 c493 (Link to this contribution) I simply do not accept that characterisation. I repeat that job centres have the flexibility and con...
Oliver Heald | 481 c480 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman remembers the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies an...
Kelvin Hopkins | 481 c481 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps hon. Members came just to listen to my speech, but I guess that they do want to speak. I am ...
David Drew | 481 c482 (Link to this contribution) My area has a particular problem: young people of no fixed abode come to it to look for work. They a...
James Clappison | 481 c475-6 (Link to this contribution) We, too, welcome the opportunity to debate work and skills, but before we do so I want to welcome th...
Subjects
Employment Jobcentre Plus Economic situation Training Skilled workers Unemployment Labour market
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
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