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ith a deficit of funds for a dwindling welfare system. When New Labour came to power, there were nearly 2 million unemployed and. In order to rectify this, the Party melded together the 20th century ideology of bettering ones self with the original nurture concepts of post war Britain.

B. The New Labour Solution of New Deal - A Critical Review

1. An explanation of the New Deal Policy
(a) What is New Deal and how does it work?
The New Deal policy has two main characteristics. In the first place, it is a 'Welfare to Work' strategy (Department of Employment and Pensions, 2004, at p 1). This therefore means that the policy is to assist individuals, who are on benefits, to make the transition from a dependency on the State to independency through work. The second part of this scheme is also to tie in training with employment in order to achieve long term employment and progression within a chosen industry. Further to this, unlike the 'Skill Seekers' scheme of the Conservative Party, New Deal is aimed at assisting individuals in all age groups and not just school leavers (Department of Employment and Pensions, 2004, at p 1).
(b) Has the New Deal Policy been successful?
(i) Positive Statistics!
The successes of the New Deal Policy are set out at the beginning of the Department of Employment and Pensions' report, 'Building on New Deal: Local Solutions Meeting Individual Needs.' Here the Government claims, through its New Deal for Young People (NDYP) to have halved long-term youth unemployment, reduced long term unemployment, including in the over 25's of the New Deal 25 Plus scheme (ND25 plus), by nearly 75% and for those who are over 50 years of age, New Labour professes an addition of over 110,000 individuals into the workforce (Department of Employment and Pensions, at p 2). While it is clear that statistics do not present the full picture and while they may be enhanced through strategic surveying, it is clear that the New Deal Policy has nevertheless proved to be a success in that it has placed many people, who would otherwise have been on benefits, back into the work force.
(ii) Room for improvement?
Following the first two terms of the New Labour Government, a team at the London School of Economics concluded that while Blair's administration had lifted large swathes of individuals out of poverty, there was, by 2004, a greater gap between the top and bottom ends of the household income brackets (The Guardian, 2004, Target Areas). There has however been a marked negative response, which professes that the New Labour Welfare reforms are nowhere near as successful as those currently in operation in the USA (Smith, D, Online).
The Government has acknowledged that the New Deal Policy requires to provide greater assistance to those groups who are referred to as having 'multiple barriers to work' (Department for Work and Pensions, 2004, at p 2). These groups include ethnic minorities, lone parents, the disabled, people aged over 50 and those with few qualifications.

2. How and Why does New Deal typify the New Labour Welfare Ideology?
(a) New Labour Welfare Ideology - The 'Third Way'?
The New Deal Policy of welfare-to-work is clearly set out within New Labour's 1997 Election Manifesto and is seen as a key part of New Labour's Third Way policy, which is phrased by the acronym PAP (Pragmatism and Populism). This is arguably a distinct appr