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Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will extend the age range of those eligible to benefit from the New Deal. [33907]
Mr. Andrew Smith
New Deal provision for people of 25 and over who have been unemployed for two years or more will be available from June 1998. I announced on 5 January that we would consider development of the pilots to extend New Deal to people over 25 who have been unemployed for a year or 18 months. These would need to be thoroughly evaluated before decisions could be taken on further extension.