Employment: Work Programme

Lord Knight of Weymouth Excerpts

Wednesday 29th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, the way that we are trying to reduce the cherry picking, which has been natural in all of the programmes that have been introduced, is to try to fine-tune the financing so that providers are incentivised to help the hardest to help. That is why providers can earn up to £14,000 to help the very hardest to help. If we see problems developing, in that we have not priced accurately, we will need to look at pricing structures, because that is the way to solve the problem.

[Lord Knight of Weymouth]

My Lords, the Department for Work and Pensions says that, of those referred on to the Work Programme—those unemployed for more than 12 months—30 per cent would get a job anyway, regardless of any intervention. I gather that the minimum contract performance on the Work Programme is to get 33 per cent into work. Therefore, for a difference of only 3 per cent, they can start making a profit. Is it not therefore vital that there is full disclosure region by region or contractor by contractor in real time—that is what is wanted from employers for universal credit—so that we can make sure that those contractors are doing a lot better than a paltry 3 per cent?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, this is designed so that people are investing their own money, which they will get back when they start making a return above what would have happened anyway—that is, in the jargon, above the dead weight. We will produce statistics to national statistics standards. Clearly, we can do that only once we can see some results. This is a long-term programme in the sense that you start getting rewards, even your first reward, possibly only after six months of that person being in work. Then you start getting further rewarded as you keep the people in work. The first time we think that it is sensible to have national statistics is around the autumn. That is what that process has come up with. I assure the noble Lord that I am looking forward a lot to showing noble Lords what those figures say. From what I am hearing anecdotally, I think that I shall be feeling very smug at that point.