10/06/2008

Carers are Britains unsung heroes. Dedicated carers around the country and here in Stalybridge & Hyde play a vital role in supporting elderly and disabled relatives and friends but they need support...(more)

11/06/2008

Working Time and Agency Workers At the Employment Council in Luxembourg on Monday night political agreement was reached on the draft Agency Workers Directive and the draft Directive on Working Time. ...(more)

11/06/2008

Labour Market Statistics New figures out today show that employment remains high at over 29.5 million, rising by 76,000 on the quarter and up 446,000 compared to a year ago as more people continue to...(more)

12/06/2008

Cluster Munitions International negotiations can often seem endless and unrewarding. Thats particularly true when you are trying to limit the use of weapons. So when the talks succeed as they did o...(more)

13/06/2008

National Challenge Schools In 2007 there were 638 secondary schools where fewer than 30 of pupils get 5 A*C at GCSE, including English and maths. The number of schools below the 30 'floor target'...(more)

16/06/2008

New Measures to Tackle Knife Crime The effective end of knife cautions for the over 16s forms the key plank of a package of Labours tough new measures, including On enforcement 5 million of direct ...(more)

17/06/2008

Children and Young Persons Bill The Bill is part of Labours wider and continuing programme to reform the care system and follows the Care Matters White Paper published in June 2007, which was built...(more)

18/06/2008

Communities in Fighting Crime Labour today backed proposals in the Casey Review to reduce crime, create safer communities and build public confidence by oIncreasing the visibility of community sente...(more)

23/06/2008

Enforcing immigration rules Labour is taking action to strengthen our borders and to shut down the causes of illegal immigration. We are holding newcomers to account when they break the rules, and ...(more)

23/06/2008

Radicals or conservatives? The fact that will do for the Tories is that they dont know what they think. The twists and turns of trying to take the toxic from a political brand has left them dizzy. Th...(more)

30/06/2008

The NHS Next Stage Review The NHS is the Labour Partys greatest achievement. We created it, we saved it, we value it and we will always support it. Since 1997, Labours investment in the NHS has tr...(more)

22/07/2008

Welfare Reform Political Article As published on 20th July, 2008. The welfare state is a vital part of the fabric of our country. It's something in which we should take pride, a way in which we come ...(more)

25/07/2008

Purnell welcomes Skills Pledge The Skills Pledge is a voluntary, public commitment by the leadership of a company or organisation to support all its employees to develop their basic skills, including...(more)

29/07/2008

Speech to Business in Preston Today I want to talk to you about a vital issue for the future of our economy. Welfare reform. Because if we can get welfare reform right we can improve our competitiv...(more)

04/08/2008

The fight against crime When I'm out and about in our area people tell me they are concerned about crime and antisocial behaviour. They also worry about young people in Stalybridge & Hyde getting in...(more)

14/08/2008

GP Opening hours One of the main reasons I wanted to be an MP was to fight for the NHS in our area. I believe it is one of our country's greatest achievements. A service that is available to all bas...(more)

05/09/2008

Help with Housing I am determined that people who work hard and play by the rules in Stalybridge & Hyde won't be left alone to bear the impact of the unprecedented problems facing global financial ma...(more)

01/10/2008

My pledge on fair wages I became an MP to fight for the rights of working. For me, the National Minimum Wage is one of the this Government's proudest achievements. Now the National Minimum Wage i...(more)

07/10/2008

Employment in the UK The UK Labour Market With one of the strongest labour markets in the developed world we remain well placed to get through this difficult period. We have the second highest emp...(more)

14/10/2008

New support and responsibilities for lone parents More than a million lone parents across the UK are already working, supporting themselves and their families. The number of lone parents in work ha...(more)

20/10/2008

James Purnell Speech to Job Centre Plus Conference Wednesday 9 October 2008 Last Tuesday, I left a Cabinet meeting and went back to the floor. At 10 in the morning I was speaking to my ministerial c...(more)

23/10/2008

Work & Skills The Government is better placed than ever before to help people get back into work. People can now access world class employment services that are a world away from the Tory system we ...(more)

28/10/2008

Employment and Support Allowance Claimant numbers on incapacity benefits more than trebled between the late 1970s and mid 1990s The position now is different the relentless rise has been checked and...(more)

10/11/2008

Post Offices The Government is providing 1.7 billion, up to 2011, to maintain a national network with reasonable access to Post Office products and services and to put it on a sustainable footing. T...(more)

18/12/2008

We should start today by just thinking what it must be like to lose your job at Christmas. To realise you can't buy your children the presents they'd been expecting. To start to draw on any savings...(more)