Policy Announcements, Wednesday 18 July

**Government **

• The work and pensions secretary has set out plans to further reduce unemployment. Peter Hain told MPs on Wednesday that lone parents will be required to seek work when their youngest child reaches the age of seven from October 2010. From next year they will be required to seek work when their youngest child reaches 12 instead of the current age of 16. Non-working lone parents will also lose their automatic right to income support, instead receiving Jobseeker's Allowance, which requires claimants to actively seek work. However Hain called for a new partnership with businesses to ensure job applicants on welfare have the skills and work attitudes that employers need, including guaranteed interviews to applicants who show they are "ready and prepared for work". And he said the flagship New Deal programme would be "more personalised, flexible and responsive".
• The government has unveiled new measures aimed at making England a world leader in skills by 2020. Innovation, universities and skills secretary John Denham told MPs on Wednesday that the government would increase access to free literacy and numeracy programmes. Responding to the Leitch review on skills, Denham said a commission for employment and skills would be set up. He acknowledged that, with the aim of making 95 per cent of adults literate and numerate by 2020, Lord Leitch's targets were "hugely ambitious".
• The new Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls today set out a straightforward yet ambitious mission to drive up school standards and improve the lives of every child in the country. He announced a total of £456 million for projects to support the wellbeing of children and families across the country, and a focus on play which enables children to have healthy, safe and happy childhood.
• The government is to consider reclassifying cannabis as a class B drug, the prime minister has said. Speaking in the Commons, Gordon Brown said the home secretary would next week publish a consultation document ahead of a review of the government's drugs strategy. It will include looking at moving cannabis from class C to the class B category, which carries a higher penalty. It was downgraded to class B by then home secretary David Blunkett in January 2004, making its possession a non-arrestable offence in most cases. Concerns have mounted since then over a link between high-strength varieties of cannabis and mental illness.