Government Employment Strategy

While the hon. Gentleman is on that point, perhaps he is aware of comments made by one of the Minister’s predecessors, the former Minister for Welfare Reform, the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field). He recently described the performance of the new deal in relation to young people as ““woeful”” and drew attention to the fact that, as he claimed, there were significantly more people in the 18-to-24 age group who are out of work now than in 1998. Does the hon. Gentleman think that that reinforces his point?