Unemployment
House of Lords
Lord Ouseley (Crossbench)
To ask her Majesty's Government what assessment has been made of the reasons for the levels of unemployment affecting black and Asian people aged under 24 years; whether racial discrimination is a contributing factor; what remedial actions are proposed; and what advice has been provided by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Lord Freud (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform), Work and Pensions; Conservative)
The Equality Strategy, Building a Fairer Britain, sets out the Government's approach to tackling inequality-recognising that we are a nation of 62 million individuals. This is built into the Government's individualised approach to increasing employment among ethnic minorities. The coalition has put in place, notably through Jobcentre Plus and through the network of contracted Work Programme providers, employment support that offers flexible tailored support to meet the needs of each individual jobseeker.
The support available includes the new Youth Contract, worth almost £1 billion, which includes a range of additional help for unemployed young people.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is represented on the Ethnic Minority Advisory Group, which provides advice to the Department for Work and Pensions to help increase ethnic minority employment.