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Sir Michael Shersby: Does my hon. Friend agree that another principal aspect of green belt policy is the openness of land? So many people forget that openness is a key factor and that it needs to be borne in mind. Without openness, we have urban sprawl, we have development, we have towns joining together and we lose the benefit of living in a balanced, decent community.
Sir Paul Beresford: You can see, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that my hon. Friend is well versed in green belt matters. As president of the London green belt group, he makes his expertise clear.
As my hon. Friends are aware, the principles of control over development in the green belt also apply to metropolitan open land. Other proposals brought forward by the Hillingdon modifications are clearly of local concern but do not necessarily raise issues that would warrant an objection from us. The changes to the proposed green chains are an example.
Although the modifications affecting the Field End and Sidmouth Drive recreation grounds were part of a proposed green chain, they raise different issues. Here Hillingdon has proposed to build on the recreation grounds. Open space and playing fields will be lost. I am not entirely sure how much open space or how many playing fields will be lost, because Hillingdon council has not made the modifications clear.
Strategic guidance looks to the boroughs to maintain and enhance the quality of all London's open spaces, particularly our parks. We expect to see policies in UDPs
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For these reasons, we objected to the modifications affecting the recreation grounds. Frankly, we also needed to object because what was proposed was far from clear. We do not know how much open space will be lost, how much development is proposed or whether it is necessary--in other words, the sort of questions that my hon. Friends and their constituents are asking.
It is apparent that local people feel strongly that a further UDP inquiry is warranted. In the first place, this is for Hillingdon to consider, but we have advised planning authorities that a further inquiry will be necessary where objections to modifications raise issues that were not examined at an earlier stage.
I understand that Hillingdon officers are preparing a report for their members' committee meeting to be held on 21 November, which my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood mentioned. I anticipate that the report will set out the options on the way forward--including, we hope, a further local inquiry.
I urge my hon. Friends--although I realise that I do not need to urge them--to continue to press their concerns with the local authority. We will keep a close eye on the plan and pursue our objections until we are satisfied that the proposals do not conflict with our policy guidance. It is, of course, too early to consider whether intervention in the plan is warranted. We must first wait to see what else emerges from Hillingdon's consideration of the objections that it has received. I hope that the council is receptive and responsive.
It being seven minutes to Two o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.
Sitting suspended, pursuant to Standing Order No. 10 (Wednesday sittings), till half-past Two o'clock.
1. Mr. Wigley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will introduce a scheme to enable unemployed people to be given work at a minimum of £160 per week on environment, transport, community care and educational schemes; and if she will make a statement. [2070]
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Mr. Eric Forth):
Our policies help unemployed people take the real jobs that the economy is creating. The approach is working: employment has risen by 210,000 in the past year and we are constantly developing new approaches to maximise our programmes' effectiveness.
Mr. Wigley:
I am disappointed at, if not surprised by, the Minister's response. I warmly welcome the fall in unemployment which was announced today, but even if every vacant job were filled, there would still be more than 80,000 people unemployed in Wales and more than 1.7 million unemployed in the United Kingdom. Would it not make better sense to pay those people to do the worthwhile work that needs to be done in terms of the environment, community care, transport and all the other sectors in which jobs are not necessarily provided by the free market, rather than leaving them to rot on the dole for years until they find work again?
Mr. Forth:
No, not in the absolute sense that the hon. Gentleman suggests. There is a divide here between those who believe in a general make-work scheme, where the taxpayer pays people to do what is regarded as useful across the nation, and those who believe in a more targeted approach, where we try in different ways to find what works in helping the long-term unemployed get back to work, including giving them useful work experience. If at the same time they can do useful work in local communities, that is all well and good, and our project work programme has demonstrated that that is possible. The difference is between those who believe in a blanket, unquestioning approach and those who believe in a targeted approach, and I think ours is the better.
2. Mr. Hardy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations she has received on the introduction of home-school contracts for all schools. [2071]
The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mrs. Gillian Shephard):
I have received a variety of representations about home-school agreements.
Mr. Hardy:
Although it appears that the Government are beginning to move along the road down which the Labour party has pointed for some time, will the Minister assure the House that she will not adopt the approach in
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Mrs. Shephard:
Many schools will find such agreements to be a useful part of their policies for strengthening parental support and involvement. As many authorities and schools already have such arrangements, I see no need for extra resources.
Mr. Pawsey:
Does my right hon. Friend welcome the Opposition's conversion to the policies of this Government, policies that will do much to help improve the quality and standards of state education? Will she confirm that it will be up to individual schools to decide what actually goes into the home-school contracts and that, if people want a particular contract to refer to the disciplinary measures that a school wishes to introduce, that will be quite in order?
Mrs. Shephard:
My hon. Friend is ingenious, as ever; indeed, his ingenuity matches his common sense. The content of home-school agreements would certainly be up to individual admission authorities, be they local education authorities or schools. However, the Bill will include a power for the Secretary of State to rule out particular conditions.
3. Mr. Clapham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment she has made of the reliability of the unemployment statistics in informing her Department's policy decisions. [2072]
Mr. Forth:
I have total confidence in the statistics produced here by the Office for National Statistics, in Luxembourg by the European Commission and in Paris by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, all of which show that our unemployment rate is among the lowest in Europe and falling.
Mr. Clapham:
Is the Minister aware that the Government have changed the method of measuring unemployment 32 times since 1979 and that that has been done to fiddle the figures? If he has such confidence in the statistics, can he confirm that, since 1992, the utilities--gas, water, electricity and telecommunications--have lost 89,743 jobs and have made £33 billion? Does that not support the case for a windfall tax and should not the utilities be encouraged to create jobs rather than lose them?
Mr. Forth:
I am in the fortunate position of not needing to fiddle the figures, because unemployment is in any case falling, by any measure. I regret to say that the hon. Gentleman was not listening to what I said: I said that not only our figures but those--no doubt beloved of Opposition Members--produced by the European Commission in Luxembourg, no less, show that unemployment is low and falling. The Eurostat figures released yesterday demonstrate that fact yet again. The International Labour Organisation--also much admired by Opposition Members--has verified the fact that our unemployment rate is now significantly lower than those
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Sir Michael Neubert:
Are not today's unemployment figures, the best for five and a half years, directly attributable to the policy of the Department for Education and Employment, and a credit to it? What assessment has my hon. Friend made of the effect on the unemployment statistics of a national minimum wage, compulsory paternity leave, compulsory consultation, a maximum working week and a minimum annual leave requirement? All those burdens on business are espoused and supported by the Labour party.
Mr. Forth:
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, because he has gone to the heart of the argument about what creates jobs. I believe that we can clearly demonstrate that the creation of jobs by the private sector is due entirely to the provision of an environment in which business can succeed, inward investment can be attracted and employers and employees can work out the best arrangements for conducting their business. The mindless regulatory approach that is all too common among many of our competitors and partners in the European Union would threaten all that. That is why the Government will continue to resist any attempt to impose unnecessary restrictions and regulations on our business sector, which is demonstrating a unique capacity to create real jobs.
Mr. Don Foster:
I welcome today's unemployment figures, but does the Minister agree that he should not make too large a claim for Government policies because, based on the statistics that he has said are so reliable, it is clear that the vast majority of new jobs being created are part time and temporary? Analysis of his figures shows that there has been a reduction of 400,000 full-time equivalent jobs over the past 12 months.
Mr. Forth:
Try telling that to the people of France, Germany, Spain and Italy, who would be pathetically grateful for job creation such as we have had here and whose Governments are doing them a gross disservice by the policies that they are pursuing. The hon. Gentleman does not have to take my word for it: the OECD, the International Monetary Fund and all the respected international authorities will confirm that the United Kingdom has found the answer to the needs of a modern, competitive economy while other countries, regrettably, are going in completely the wrong direction.
Mr. Thomason:
Has my hon. Friend formed any view on the reliability of the unemployment statistics for Germany, France, Italy and some other European countries to which he referred, which demonstrate that Britain has a far lower rate of unemployment? In addition, has my hon. Friend any views on why Britain might be producing such good results?
Mr. Forth:
If one looks simply at the statistics produced by, for example, the ILO or Eurostat, which produced its latest figures just yesterday, quite apart from our internal figures, one can see that on a comparative basis even they demonstrate that unemployment in France, Germany and Italy is high and rising, whereas in Britain it is low and falling. Those are incontrovertible
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Mr. Byers:
Will the Minister confirm that, on his own figures, one in five households of working age have no one in a job and that 2,750,000 men of working age without a job simply do not appear in today's unemployment figures? How much of today's apparent cut in unemployment is due not to people going into work but simply to people moving from one benefit to another?
Mr. Forth:
Probably about 15,000.
Mr. Marland:
Will my hon. Friend confirm that, in the United Kingdom, more people are in work and fewer people are out of work than in any other European country, and that that is due in no small measure to the fact that we have no social chapter and no minimum wage?
Mr. Forth:
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point, because it gives the lie to the remarkable contortions that Opposition Members go through to produce something resembling bad news about what is happening on our labour and employment front. I am glad to say that Britain has produced the capacity to provide more work for people who want it than most of our European competitors and partners. That is something in which we can take satisfaction. We shall continue to provide the environment in which business can prosper, inward investment can take place and employers and employees can work out their own arrangements, to maximise employment in Britain.
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