House of Commons · Adjournment Debate
10 February 2025 · 11 other contributors
Opened by Paulette Hamilton Lab Birmingham Erdington
Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.
Paulette Hamilton raised concerns about community and third sector organisations employment 2025-02-10 in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
Key points
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.
Opened the debate
Before I start the debate, I would like to declare an interest: I chair the organisation in my constituency that I will be talking about, but I get absolutely no remuneration for it. It is a privilege to speak on behalf of my constituents in Erdington... [The full speech continues with details about unemployment rates, literacy issues, economic recovery board initiatives, and calls for tailored support from the Government]
I spoke to the hon. Lady before the debate, and I commend her initiative.
Does my hon. Friend agree that as the Government move forward with their plans to support young people into training and on into employment, they would be wise to consider the role that the voluntary sector plays in local communities?
My hon. Friend has focused on the benefits of partnerships... Does she agree that employability partnerships led by third sector organisations have been shown to be more successful than traditional approaches?
Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to see a long-term cost-benefit analysis of what these organisations can bring, to ensure they get the funding they need to transform these people’s lives?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we need collaboration... Such programmes will not work if organisations work in isolation.
Does she agree that the third sector has to be taken into account when we are developing economic strategies?
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this really important debate... Does she agree that such support delivered in partnership for our young people will help them to prepare for the world of work?
Does my hon. Friend agree that community and third sector organisations offer particularly invaluable work to disabled people seeking not just employment but focus and meaning?
Does the Minister agree that one of the challenges with previous models of employability support is that they have not been tailored and they have not meet the needs of people for sustained support in that employment?
Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to move away from a model where voluntary groups were included as subcontractor partners, but did not have any ownership of how services were delivered on the ground?
Does she agree that the Government need to adopt a responsive, agile approach more and more as we try to address these big challenges?
Government Response
I will absolutely give way... My hon. Friend makes a valuable point. Communities working together with people makes a difference, and as leaders it is vital that we not only encourage that but press Governments to support us to make that happen. [The full response continues with acknowledgment of the issue, funding announcements, policy commitments, what government has already done, what government will do next, rebuttals to criticisms, answers to specific questions raised] I thank and pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton), who brought the debate to the House this evening. All hon. Members will agree that her passion and commitment to her constituency and this subject shine through... We know that we have to learn the lessons of the failures of the past 14 years. We cannot keep going in the same direction; we needed to change course. For me, that means localising our services, so we pay attention to the specific features of each place that we are trying to help... I will conclude now, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I fear that collectively, all of us in the Chamber could probably speak about this topic for about three hours uninterrupted. We had better not do that, but I want to finish by saying how important it is that we have had this debate this evening.