Government Employment Strategy

Philosophically, that is an interesting question. I should like the Minister to reflect on it, but, like the hon. Member for North-East Derbyshire, I am deeply concerned about the large number of people who go through the claimant process and in and out of work with very low skill levels. We must address that situation. To help the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), I am neither being prescriptive nor annunciating specific Conservative policy. This is a Thursday afternoon debate, and it may be one of the few opportunities that we have for one of the consultations that the Minister said he was going to organise. I am asking the question in the spirit of these debates—no more than that. Perhaps we could leave party politics out of it, because the issues are too serious. I hope that we are all concerned about getting the issues right, and I merely pose the question at this stage—no more than that. The Committee’s excellent report mentioned lone parents, and I agree that personal advisers should have discretion over whether there is a mandatory increase in the frequency of work-focused interviews. Time and again, from almost every Member who has spoken, we have heard about the need to treat claimants as individuals: not to mould them to the system, but to mould the system to the needs of the individual. Later, I shall say more about the way in which we can travel a great deal further along that path. The issue is tremendously important. On page 20 of the Government’s response, I was particularly pleased to see recommendation 52, which talks about lone parents. The Committee said:"““There may be a range of reasons why a lone parent does not wish to work. We recommend that the DWP concentrate its efforts on providing better support for the majority of lone parents who do want to work, as discussed in the chapter on lone parents above.””" That is humane and sound. The hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood may remember my making similar concerns known to the Committee when I was a member during the previous Parliament. The Child Poverty Action Group, in its excellent submission to this afternoon’s debate, went into more detail. It talked about the increase, from 12 to 16, in the age of children as far as conditionality is concerned:"““Between 12 and 16 children face enormous changes and challenges in life such as starting secondary education, facing exams and going through the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty and adolescence. It is also in these years that many will face challenges such as becoming sexually active, using alcohol and drugs, being bullied or developing a mental health condition. A lone parent should be able to put their child’s welfare and emotional needs before employment if required during these difficult years.””" Again, that was the Committee’s sentiment in recommendation 52. On that general point, it is also worth saying—again, the hon. Lady may remember my making similar comments in the previous Parliament—that the Department for Education and Skills has a role, through its overall responsibility for family policy, in trying somehow to help couples stay together. We have talked about Australia this afternoon, and the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey said that he was off there soon.