Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am pleased to launch my employability plan today, and I start by thanking my fellow Members for their contributions to the development of this plan, because it is a cross-governmental scheme.

It is one of the prime responsibilities of Government to educate, train and prepare people for the world of work. A larger, more inclusive workforce is good for our nation’s productivity, but there are also individual benefits to work. Work lifts people out of poverty, and, according to Professor Stephen Hawking, work gives you meaning and purpose, and life can be empty without it.