Results 1-20 of 7,942 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Tony McNulty

Business of the House: Personal Statement (29 Oct 2009) has video

Tony McNulty: With permission, I would like to make a personal statement. I should like to thank the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges for the report and memorandum that was published this morning. I should like especially to thank the commissioner for his diligence and courtesy throughout this investigation. I am grateful that he recognises that...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: In March 2009, there were 1,662 jobseeker's allowance claimants in Blaby constituency and 1,523,482 such claimants in the UK. Those figures represent 2.7 per cent. and 4 per cent. of the working-age population respectively.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: The hon. Gentleman will know that the statistics are owned by the Office for National Statistics; it is not for a Government Minister or anybody else to speculate before their arrival on Wednesday at 9.30.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: I understand my hon. Friend's point, but I do not have to hand the figures to which he alluded at the start of his question.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: Again—an interesting point, and a fair one. The House of Commons Library issues such data regularly. I do not have them about my person, but I will make sure that the hon. Gentleman gets a copy of the very latest after Wednesday's figures.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: As the right hon. Lady will know, under the established statistics arrangements it is not my place to speculate about Wednesday's figures. The CIPD always brings out its forecast at around this time. I know one thing for certain: unless the right hon. Lady signs up in total to the nearly £5 billion of extra support that we are putting into Jobcentre Plus and assorted other employment...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: Quite the opposite. It has been estimated that many of the macroeconomic interventions made over the past year have saved the best part of half a million jobs. The right hon. Lady is entirely wrong to suggest that the flexible new deal has been postponed in any way, shape or form. The Budget put more money into the flexible new deal, rather than otherwise. I repeat: none of these things would...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: In March 2008, there were 842,827 jobseeker's allowance claimants in the UK and 686 in North-East Bedfordshire. In March 2009, there were 1,523,482 jobseeker's allowance claimants in the UK and 1,812 in North-East Bedfordshire.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: The hon. Gentleman raises a fair point. I would have shared some of that concern in the past, but I know that, certainly over recent months, more and more of both the information and the delivery of those programmes and interventions are getting through to businesses and making a difference to local initiatives and local employment opportunities.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: I can tell my hon. Friend that I have had a couple of meetings with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence on precisely that point. We are looking at trying to do something specific, especially for longer-term leavers, around Catterick and other departure points from the armed services. It is more difficult in the case of those who are in the services for only three or four weeks, decide they...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman's starting premise is entirely wrong. We are deliberately ensuring that the almost £5 billion we are investing in Jobcentre Plus and employment opportunities goes across the piece. It is helping before redundancies, with our rapid response services. It is helping people who, unfortunately, find themselves unemployed and for whom the experience is brand...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: In March 2009 the proportion of the population in the UK claiming jobseeker's allowance was 4 per cent.; in North-West Cambridgeshire it was 3.8 per cent.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: The direct reference to light at the end of a tunnel came in a rather long-winded and tortuous sentence. It started with, "These are very bad figures and I fear that they are going to get worse." In the middle came something like, "But recession is not the default mode of the British economy," as I recall, and then, "And there will be light at the end of the tunnel." Plenty in the media...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Jobseeker's Allowance (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: No, and nor would I agree with the hon. Gentleman's support—I have not heard that he feels otherwise—for those Conservative Front Benchers who do not support the £5 billion package that will help in his area, as it will elsewhere. I certainly would not agree with him, given that he is, I think, a signatory to the outrageous little Bill that will seek to abolish the national...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Topical Questions (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: All that is rooted in precisely what we are doing with the £5 billion of extra investment. As I said earlier, we have had to change the model slightly to offer much, much more both pre-redundancy with the rapid response service and when a person is first made unemployed, and then again after three and six months of unemployment. However, the hon. Lady has made a fair point, and I take it...

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Topical Questions (11 May 2009)

Tony McNulty: I will certainly take the matter up further for the hon. Gentleman, but his starting premise is correct: the advice is not to disseminate information or procedures of that kind for the use of third parties, at least those in the public sector. However, the matter has been raised with me before, and I will take it up and get back to the hon. Gentleman.

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Tony McNulty: The point that my hon. Friend misses slightly is that I think that the disparity between the amounts for different age groups should prevail. There is, of course, a perfectly legitimate wider argument to be had about the level of benefits, the relation to wage levels and the minimum wage, and how the two interact; I agree that that is perhaps a debate for another time. However, it is not...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Tony McNulty: I am not telling my hon. Friend that I have spoken to Scottish Ministers since our Committee finished, but I repeat that there is no commitment from that Government to legislate, and from their perspective, apparently, no more money and no further investment are needed. I do not see why Scottish parents should have to wait for that Government to catch up with everybody else and for the...

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Tony McNulty: I will, because the hon. Gentleman did at least speak once in Committee, for which we are grateful.

Food Labelling Regulations (Amendment): New Clause 1 — Jobseeker's allowance (17 Mar 2009) has video

Tony McNulty: As devolution is dear to my heart, I fully accept that you do things differently, but we would rather like you to do it. That is the point. I am sorry about the "you", Mr. Deputy Speaker. We would rather like broad agreement across all devolved Administrations that child care is a fairly important provision. It is quite right that it should be devolved. I have no problem with that, but as my...