Lone Parent Employment

: I have not the slightest wish to distort because it is important that we have a better understanding of the process. I quote only from figures provided by the Library briefing on expenditure on the new deal for lone people, which are divided into administrative and programme expenditure and relate to a source in the departmental report. What our exchanges lead on to is the suggestion that it would be to the public benefit to know more about the matter. I understand that advisers have to be in place; they have to conduct interviews and devote time to that. They also have their ““piggy bank””, if I may put it that way: the £100 discretionary allowance. I notice that most of those allowances are spent in full, but I welcome that sort of flexibility in the system. I am not suggesting that any of this process should be cheap, but I want to get every pound that we can into the front line of delivery while spending the minimum amount on bureaucracy. I give Minister credit for sharing that objective. The Minister knows that I approach life as an optimist. I genuinely do not want to end on a wholly negative note. There are elements of the current arrangements that could be of some future use. In particular, I agree that the problems and situations faced by lone parents are likely to be complex, so whatever the actual programme and whatever its branding and design at any one time, those problems will require complex and usually holistic solutions, and not just a one-shot solution. It would be interesting to learn more about not only the Minister's experience of the old pilots from autumn 2004, but the range of the new pilots' design, particularly in relation to the welfare reform Green Paper. If she could say a little about what has happened with child care and the job grant from autumn 2004, that would be helpful. I hope that they have been successful. In relation to pilots in general, I hope that the Government drop their habit of making decisions first and running the pilots in parallel, and properly evaluate what works and what is cost effective. I hope that with the health warnings that the hon. Member for Yeovil has already given, they carry on that new approach into the new pilots that were foreshadowed in the Green Paper. We must be sure that the resources are available and, if the approach is to be a success, that they can be rolled out. In particular, I hope that future developments within the Minister's brief—while it continues—also take on board the lessons of the more explicitly work-oriented programmes in the United States. The work emphasis of those programmes has always been strong. whereas ours is person-oriented. It is a question of bringing the two together rather than excluding one or the other. We would all do well to remember the importance of employers in the process. In discussing some Conservative concepts drawn from the approach that we developed and labelled ““work first””, I wanted to emphasise the greater flexibility and smaller bureaucracy of the private sector approach to preparing people for job readiness. That need not shock the Minister, because she knows that the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, West and Hessle (Alan Johnson), the last Secretary of State for Work and Pensions but two, used to emphasise how much of the Department's labour policy work was already outsourced. I think that in correspondence with my colleagues he said that 30 per cent. was outsourced. The wider role of the private sector as the provider of real and sustainable jobs for lone parents and others wanting to return to work is crucial. By offering people the prospect of a job, private employers could play an invaluable role in pulling people through into employment. People come from different types of social exclusion—as lone parents, or after a long period of exclusion in prison, for example. They may need a period of intensive support or mentoring before they can take their first step in the labour market, and they might better do so with the protection of a job offer. It will motivate them to carry through that process. We want those people to take their first step in the labour market. That is where we should all like them to be, but between us there are differences of emphasis about how that should be achieved. Finally, we must offer lone parents opportunity rather than any suggestion of coercion. There must be rules, but they should be seen as reasonable and sustainable, and not designed to penalise lone parents. We must offer them help rather than cynicism or bureaucracy. As a Conservative, I believe in trusting people and sharing responsibility. I want all our citizens to have a chance to find for themselves economic independence and job satisfaction, and in so doing to make their full contribution to our society. The Opposition are not after quick fixes or silly targets, and we shall welcome anything well founded that the Government do now for the long term. We all ought to be focused on something built to last. It is a phrase that will resonate on Conservative lips, and of which the nation may hear quite a bit, in the months to come.