Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:32 pm on 14 December 2016.
Two points. First of all, I’m very grateful to the Member for suggesting a response to my question earlier on. But may I remind him that it was his Government that was in power in the eighties that absolutely devastated Wales, with the highest rate of unemployment ever in the UK? And his mate on the front bench there, in UKIP, was part of the Government at the time as well, so he can’t shake his head either. The second point of the issue around Communities for Work and the Lift programme is one that is an important one. I haven’t dodged the fact that we won’t release figures; I’m more than happy to look at them in the new year and furnish the Assembly with those details. This is about getting people at the hardest end to reach back into the workplace—not an easy cohort of people to deal with, but we have success and we should celebrate success. Stop knocking Wales.