Speeches by McFadden.

“I want to see the numbers come down. I will be able to say a bit more about the numbers in the youth guarantee and who it can help after the Budget. I cannot give those today. I have been trying to make sure we have as good a package as possible but these are collective decisions and, like everything else, they have to…”

“You are right that the problem has been with us for a long time, but it has got worse in the last four or five years. The growing feature in it is, as I said, sickness. The number of NEETs reporting long-term sickness problems has grown a lot in the last four or five years. That is partly why I wanted Alan Milburn to l…”

“We look at every past programme and every experience that we can. The option we were very keen to avoid—there used to be a phrase about this; I can’t remember if it was no fourth option or no fifth option—was just not doing anything. I think we should have a healthy curiosity about all the previous programmes. There is…”

“Let me talk about inactivity and the trailblazers for young people. The structure of government—local government, mayoral government—has changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years. Skills and labour markets change around the country. I think it was right, therefore, to bring the mayors into this and to use the experience…”

“Yes, of course, some stuff is known. I mentioned earlier that in my first three months I had looked at a lot of graphs. The ones that have really jumped out at me have been those concerning young people, inactivity and illness. The reason I asked Alan Milburn to do his report is that I think we need to ask ourselves tw…”

“I said in response to your earlier question that we have specific packages for construction and defence. These are growing areas, partly for geopolitical reasons in defence, but because the Government have made a decision on construction and housing. I think we can tailor things to the growth sectors of the industrial …”

“It is a very good question. We have shortened some apprenticeships from 12 to eight months, but some employers have told us that they want more flexibility than that—that even the eight months is longer than they need. As well as the tilt towards youth, we are moving to shorter courses, which will be apprenticeship uni…”

“It is exactly the kind of choice we have to make. If we say you can spread the butter wherever you wish on very high-level apprenticeship funding, we will have less money for young people and less money for foundation apprenticeships. This is a microcosm of government in general. You have to make choices, and we have m…”

“Yes, and I don’t think there is a problem with the way that you paint that picture. I have never been a believer in pitting apprenticeships and FE against higher education. I am for the expansion of opportunity, whichever route people choose. If I look at my own constituency of Wolverhampton South East, we probably do …”

“I talked about a five-year timescale; the timescale of Whitehall silos is 100 years. One advantage that we have is a joint Minister, and I am delighted to say that Jacqui Smith, the skills Minister, stayed on in that post after the reshuffle. She has one foot in the DFE and one foot in the DWP. That really helps. Let m…”

“This is a really important area; thank you for your question. We have a lot of graphs in the DWP, and I have looked at a lot of graphs in the three months or so since I was appointed. Some of the ones that have struck me the most are those concerning young people. The curve of the graphs does not begin a year ago; a lo…”

“Sure. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. It is a pleasure to be here before you for the first time in my capacity as Secretary of State. I know that you personally, and the Committee, have taken a great interest in this issue for some time. The Department deals with about 20 million people across the piece, and a number…”

“I think it should be systems based. You are right; it is not just a matter for the frontline staff. They are, of course, dealing directly with the most vulnerable customers. They are often not the highest paid civil servants, either, and we ask a lot of them. But it should be in Caxton House, too; it should be in the D…”

“To recap the position, the Pension Schemes Bill deals with this by facilitating a dialogue between trustees and employers in a situation where there is a surplus. Each of them has their legal responsibilities. I am obviously not going to sit here and say that the legislation that we are just putting through Parliament …”

“I will bring in Peter in a second. I mentioned serious case panels and reviews and said they were not the answer to everything because they often happen after a tragedy has taken place. I do not just want it to be a rear-view exercise, but I do think they are important in giving us the evidence of what has gone wrong s…”

“Well, that is the system. I am being held to account here and I am very happy to be in front of this Select Committee; that is part of our parliamentary system. Before I came to see you this morning, I was explaining to my 14-year-old daughter what an important mechanism for parliamentary accountability these appearanc…”

“Forgive me—October next year. When everybody is signed up to it there will be a bit of testing and all of that. I cannot say we will go live the next day, but that is a very important deadline in giving the basic information for the dashboard to work. I appreciate that this has gone on for a long time. We have been tal…”

“The deadline for everybody to be signed up to it is September next year.”

“There is more than one use for surpluses, yes. Some people are selling the schemes to insurance companies and all the rest of it, but the Bill allows for this—it facilitates it—and I think we should give it a chance to see how it works.”

“Well, I am not going to call stumps on brand new legislation before it has had a chance to have an effect, so let’s see what effect it has. We put those provisions in the Bill precisely because we wanted a mechanism to address the problem that you are raising today and I know the Committee is interested in.”