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The Government's long-term goal is employment opportunity for all. It aims to promote a dynamic and flexible labour market in which everyone can make the choices they need to fulfil their potential.

Since 1997, the New Deal has helped over 460,000 young people into jobs. The number of people in work has risen by more than 1.7 million in that time and unemployment is now lower than in any of the other G7 major economies. The New Deal has also helped to provide greater employment opportunity for people who find it harder to obtain jobs, such as lone parents and disabled people.

The Government has introduced a number of reforms to improve work incentives and provide support for those on low incomes. Introduced in April 2003, the Working Tax Credit helps to make work pay for people on low incomes and has already helped over 1.5 million families. As announced in Budget 2003, the National Minimum Wage was raised to £4.50 per hour in October 2003. The Government is taking further steps to deliver higher employment across the country by:

• extending support to help lone parents get back to work, by increasing the number of interviews with personal advisers and providing help with childcare costs;


• reforms to ensure that Housing Benefit does not constrain the ability of the unemployed to find work;
• extra support to help the unemployed, through the provision of work-focused courses;


• an extension of eligibility for the New Deal for partners; and


• continued support for sick and disabled people through an extension of the New Deal for disabled people.

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