First elected: 6th May 2010
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Enforce the “50+1” Rule for professional football club ownership in the UK
Gov Responded - 24 May 2021 Debated on - 14 Jun 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsBring in a law which enforces professional football clubs to have at least 51% fan ownership similar to how the Bundesliga operates this rule.
Introduce an Independent Regulator for Football in England by December 2021
Gov Responded - 7 Jun 2021 Debated on - 14 Jun 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsThe Government should use the recently established fan led review of football to introduce an Independent Football Regulator in England to put fans back at the heart of our national game. This should happen by December 2021.
Repeal the Coronavirus Act 2020
Gov Responded - 20 Oct 2020 Debated on - 22 Mar 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsThe Coronavirus Act grants potentially dangerous powers including to detain some persons indefinitely, to take biological samples, and to give directions about dead bodies. Powers last up to 2 years with 6 monthly reviews, and lockdown powers could prevent protests against measures.
Allow golf to be played with appropriate safety measures
Gov Responded - 18 Jan 2021 Debated on - 22 Mar 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsThe Government should allow golf courses to remain open during the second lockdown, and any future restrictions. Shops and clubhouses can close, but courses should be allowed to remain open, with social distancing in place.
Keep gyms open during Tier 4 lockdown
Gov Responded - 14 Jan 2021 Debated on - 22 Mar 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsConsider keeping gyms open during lockdown because so many people have mental health and stress and they need something to do to take their mind off it closing all fitness facilities can affect us pretty badly.
Shut all nurseries and early years settings during lockdown
Gov Responded - 26 Jan 2021 Debated on - 22 Mar 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsUrgent call for the government to close all nurseries and early years settings in light of the new lockdown to protect early years staff.
Open gyms first as we come out of lockdown & fund a Work Out to Help Out scheme
Gov Responded - 16 Mar 2021 Debated on - 22 Mar 2021 View 's petition debate contributionsWe want the government to recognise the importance of gyms, health clubs, leisure centres and swimming pools in empowering people to look after their health and stay fit and for them to open first as we come out of lockdown.
We're also calling for government to fund a Work Out to Help Out scheme.
Exempt golf courses from the list of venues required to close due to Covid-19
Gov Responded - 23 Nov 2020 Debated on - 23 Nov 2020 View 's petition debate contributionsIsolation essential to the Government’s strategy for fighting coronavirus, and UK citizens must remain healthy and exercise whilst keeping adequate distance between people. The Government should allow golf courses to open so families or individuals can play golf in order to exercise safely.
Prevent gyms closing due to a spike in Covid 19 cases
Gov Responded - 28 Oct 2020 Debated on - 23 Nov 2020 View 's petition debate contributionsIn the event of a spike we would like you not to close gyms as a measure to stop any spread of Covid. Also for gyms to not be put in the same group as pubs in terms of risk or importance. Gyms are following strict guidelines and most members are following rules in a sober manner.
Allow football fans to attend matches at all levels
Gov Responded - 21 Oct 2020 Debated on - 9 Nov 2020 View 's petition debate contributionsFootball is a powerful tool of which allows a range of benefits such as employment, and other important aspects of life. Football can be associated with passion, emotion, excitement and dedication across the community. With Fans attending football games a range of economic benefits are there too.
These initiatives were driven by Alison McGovern, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Alison McGovern has not been granted any Urgent Questions
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to amend the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to broaden the scope of the general duty of library authorities so as to include a duty to provide related cultural facilities alongside the library service; and for connected purposes.
Public Advocate (No. 2) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (Lab)
Public Advocate Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (Lab)
Football Regulation Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Christian Matheson (Lab)
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019
Sponsor - Yvette Cooper (Lab)
Tyres (Buses and Coaches) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (Lab)
Public Authority (Accountability) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Andy Burnham (Lab)
The Government is ensuring that all young people get every opportunity to go as far as their talents will take them. Social mobility initiatives include:
On 1 April 2023, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 23 years and over by 9.7% to £10.42. This keeps the Government on track to achieve its manifesto commitment for the NLW to equal two-thirds of median earnings by 2024 (if economic conditions allow).
The Government has no plans to commence Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 in England. As merely a “due regard” duty, it requires no specific action from the public body concerned, and risks becoming a tick-box exercise, complied with to minimise the risk of litigation rather than to promote real change in society. The duty is also wrongly focussed on equalising socio-economic outcomes rather than opportunities. The Government’s preferred approach is to progress specific policies and practical actions that will deliver real change.
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Members’ correspondence. As set out in the Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk and in the response to Question 190603, the deadlines set by Departments for responding to correspondence should not exceed 20 working days and they are strongly encouraged to set more challenging deadlines to ensure greater efficiency in responding to correspondence.
While each Department is responsible for managing their own timeliness in responding to correspondence, the Cabinet Office, as owners of the Guide to Handling Correspondence, regularly engages with correspondence officials in Government Departments to discuss and review performance and issues that may be impacting performance. The Cabinet Office also publishes correspondence performance data on GOV.UK on a regular basis, detailing departmental performance in handling correspondence. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1145941/Data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-MPs-and-Peers-in-2022.docx.pdf
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Members’ correspondence. As set out in the Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk and in the response to Question 190603, the deadlines set by Departments for responding to correspondence should not exceed 20 working days and they are strongly encouraged to set more challenging deadlines to ensure greater efficiency in responding to correspondence.
While each Department is responsible for managing their own timeliness in responding to correspondence, the Cabinet Office, as owners of the Guide to Handling Correspondence, regularly engages with correspondence officials in Government Departments to discuss and review performance and issues that may be impacting performance. The Cabinet Office also publishes correspondence performance data on GOV.UK on a regular basis, detailing departmental performance in handling correspondence. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1145941/Data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-MPs-and-Peers-in-2022.docx.pdf
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Members’ correspondence. As set out in the Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk and in the response to Question 190603, the deadlines set by Departments for responding to correspondence should not exceed 20 working days and they are strongly encouraged to set more challenging deadlines to ensure greater efficiency in responding to correspondence.
While each Department is responsible for managing their own timeliness in responding to correspondence, the Cabinet Office, as owners of the Guide to Handling Correspondence, regularly engages with correspondence officials in Government Departments to discuss and review performance and issues that may be impacting performance. The Cabinet Office also publishes correspondence performance data on GOV.UK on a regular basis, detailing departmental performance in handling correspondence. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1145941/Data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-MPs-and-Peers-in-2022.docx.pdf
Departments across government work to strict internal deadlines to ensure responses are progressed within 20 working days. The Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk clearly sets out the importance this government attaches to the effective and efficient handling of correspondence received from Members.
Whilst 4 weeks is the deadline to respond to correspondence, departments are encouraged to set more challenging deadlines.
Officials working on correspondence across government departments are encouraged to engage regularly with policy officials, to ensure responses going out to Members are drafted and progressed as efficiently as possible. Cabinet Office regularly engages with correspondence officials in other Government departments to discuss performance and what may be impacting their performance.
As set out in the response to Question 188915, Government Ministers are expected to respond quickly and effectively to Members’ correspondence and I will continue to drive that message. Every effort must be made to reply to correspondence promptly and within the original deadline.
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
As per the Cabinet Office’s Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk, departments and agencies should aim to respond to correspondence from MPs within a 20 working day target deadline, but are advised to consider setting more challenging deadlines than 20 working days to ensure a better minimum service level.
Performance data on responses to correspondence from Parliamentarians for 2022 can be found on gov.uk. This data shows the volume of correspondence received by government departments and agencies from Parliamentarians and the percentage that was responded to within each department’s target deadline as well as the 20 working day maximum target deadline.
I expect Government Ministers to respond quickly and effectively to Members’ correspondence and I will continue to drive that message.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator awarded around £62m of grant funding, delivering from 2021 into 2022, no funding was awarded to Wirral South. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding. Successful projects will be notified around March 2023.
As of 21 November 2022, according to official figures, 28 homes have been retrofitted in Wirral South under the Local Authority Delivery Scheme.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator awarded around £62m of grant funding, delivering from 2021 into 2022, no funding was awarded to Wirral South. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding. Successful projects will be notified around March 2023.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold a breakdown of Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding by constituency. Lists of all projects funded through the scheme can be found on the scheme’s GOV.UK page: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-sector-decarbonisation-scheme.
Energy suppliers are responsible for providing rebates to eligible households and are only required to report on the number of rebates provided in England, Scotland and Wales. The Government does not hold data on the number of rebate recipients by constituency.
The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Wirral South, and is engaging with businesses across the UK to understand these challenges and explore ways to mitigate them.
The Government has reversed the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs £4,200 on average, cut fuel duty for 12 months and brought in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which is shielding businesses across the country from soaring energy prices, saving some around half of their wholesale energy costs.
We have also announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs.
The Government is fully committed to supporting businesses and creating the best conditions for enterprise so that everyone, whatever their background, has the means and know-how to start and grow a business.
We are supporting early-stage entrepreneurs from all backgrounds through the Start-Up Loans Company which provides funding and intensive support to new entrepreneurs. Since 2012, 40% of Start Up Loans have gone to women, worth over £341m and 20% of loans worth 183m have gone to Black, Asian, and Ethnic-minority business. (as at October 2022). 106 SMEs in Wirral South have received loans to the value of £1,014,500 as of October 2022.
In the UK in 2021, 19% of SMEs with employees (a three-percentage point increase on 2020) and 20% of firms with no employees (21% in 2020) were female-led. The government does not hold regional data relating to the proportion of female-led business.
The Rose Review is supported by the industry-led ‘Rose Review Council for Investing in Female Entrepreneurs’ that aims to coordinate industry-led action to increase investment into female-led businesses.
The Government has set an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030, equivalent to 600,000 new entrepreneurs.
The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses, including those in Wirral South.
Businesses in Wirral South will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs on average £4,200, cut fuel duty for 12 months and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, to protect SMEs from high energy costs over the winter. The Employment Allowance was increased to £5,000 from April and we have continued to provide business rate relief worth over £7bn, freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year.
The Government is providing financial support - 106 SMEs in Wirral South have received Start Up Loans to the value of £1,014,500 as of October 2022.
BEIS publishes information on the number of households in receipt of ECO measures by Parliamentary Constituency in Table 4.5 accompanying the latest Household Energy Efficiency Statistics release.
The Government is committed to improving the energy performance of homes across the country, including in Wirral South.
The Government is already investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency measures.
The additional £6 billion of new Government funding, announced in the Autumn Statement, will be made available from 2025 to 2028.
The Government is supporting green jobs at a national level with the Green Jobs Delivery Group. This group has already supported 68,000 jobs nationally within the green economy. The Government is also working with the Green Jobs Delivery Group to explore how central Government, local Government and businesses can further support local areas to deliver a successful net zero labour market transition. Alongside this, BEIS is working with DfE and local partners to ensure green skills are considered through Local Skills Improvement Plans.
BEIS estimates that in Wirral South constituency, six Green Deal projects are live, meaning all measures have been installed, but no projects have been completed, meaning that not all measures have been paid off. Data covers the period from May 2013 to October 2022.
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that as of 31 October 2022, forty heat pump installations were registered in the Wirral South constituency.
The database does not include all heat pump installations, for example, those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings, which are not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.
At the end of October 2022, there were 698 domestic installations of solar panels recorded in Wirral South constituency.
BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO)and Green Homes Grant (GHG) government schemes, around 500 cavity wall insulation measures, 400 loft insulation measures, 300 under floor insulation measures and 200 external wall insulation measures have been installed in Wirral South constituency.
Data for ECO covers January 2013 to September 2022. Data for the GHG schemes cover October 2020 to September 2022.
BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO)and Green Homes Grant (GHG) government schemes, around 500 cavity wall insulation measures, 400 loft insulation measures, 300 under floor insulation measures and 200 external wall insulation measures have been installed in Wirral South constituency.
Data for ECO covers January 2013 to September 2022. Data for the GHG schemes cover October 2020 to September 2022.
BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO)and Green Homes Grant (GHG) government schemes, around 500 cavity wall insulation measures, 400 loft insulation measures, 300 under floor insulation measures and 200 external wall insulation measures have been installed in Wirral South constituency.
Data for ECO covers January 2013 to September 2022. Data for the GHG schemes cover October 2020 to September 2022.
BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO)and Green Homes Grant (GHG) government schemes, around 500 cavity wall insulation measures, 400 loft insulation measures, 300 under floor insulation measures and 200 external wall insulation measures have been installed in Wirral South constituency.
Data for ECO covers January 2013 to September 2022. Data for the GHG schemes cover October 2020 to September 2022.
This Government recognises the importance of the UK’s thriving cultural industries, and that is why it pushed for ambitious arrangements to make it easier for performers and artists to perform across Europe as part of the negotiations on our future relationship with the EU.
This Government proposed to the EU that musicians, and their technical staff, be added to the list of permitted activities for short-term business visitors in the entry and temporary stay chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This would have allowed musicians and their staff to travel and perform in the EU more easily, without needing work-permits.
The UK’s legal texts reflected this position, as the EU has now acknowledged. These texts are confidential negotiating documents and it is not appropriate for them to be published.
The Government welcomes the social responsibility that most businesses have shown in responding to the pandemic, including making their premises Covid-secure by using the Safer Working guidance led by Government. Groups such as Business in the Community are continuing to coordinate help for communities in need; and the CBI-backed Good Business Charter continues to promote corporate social responsibility.
The minimum wage rates are set on the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC). This year, we asked the LPC to recommend the National Living Wage rate which should apply from April 2021 in order to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, taking economic conditions into account.
The Government asks the Low Pay Commission to monitor the labour market and the impacts of the National Living Wage closely, advising on any emerging risks, to ensure that the lowest-paid workers continue to see pay rises without significant risks to their employment prospects.
We will announce the 2021 Minimum Wage rates in due course. A full Impact Assessment estimating the benefits and costs to employers and workers will be published alongside the legislation. We estimated that over 2 million workers benefitted from the increase earlier this year, which gave a full-time worker on the NLW an increase of £930 over the year.
The sale of cinema tickets in the UK is subject to the general consumer law with associated rights and protections. These are outlined on gov.uk here.
Furthermore, cinemas are required, under the Licensing Act 2003, to have secured a premises licence in order to screen films to the public. These licences include conditions requiring cinemas to restrict the admission of children to films in accordance with the film classification given by the Licensing Authority. In most circumstances, these are provided by the British Board of Film Classification (as the designated authority under the Video Recordings Act 1984), however the local Licensing Authority is ultimately responsible for issuing permission for a film to be shown in their locality. You can find out more about the requirements for showing films in public on gov.uk here.
His Majesty’s Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people have a broad and balanced curriculum, of which creative education is a key part. We have a wide range of music and arts education programmes designed to improve access to the arts for all children, regardless of their background or where they live, and to maximise potential and unlock opportunity across the country. The Department for Education will continue to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education over the next three years, through its music, arts, and heritage programmes.
The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision highlighted our Creative Careers Promise, which will build on our educational arts offering to young people. As part of this, and as committed to in the Schools White Paper, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education are working together to develop a Cultural Education Plan. This plan aims to highlight the importance of high-quality cultural education in schools, promote the social value of cultural and creative education, outline and support career progression pathways, address skills gaps, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcome. It will also connect relevant organisations delivering cultural learning opportunities and to support the cultural education workforce, including freelancers.
This week, the Government announced 22 independent experts who will sit on an advisory panel to support the development of the Cultural Education Plan. This panel, chaired by the crossbench peer Baroness Bull, comprises teachers, education leaders, and representatives from the performing arts, museums, heritage and youth sectors, and the creative industries.
As part of their work, Baroness Bull, members of the panel, and officials from both Departments are undertaking a series of around 50 listening exercises, working with organisations including the Confederation of School Trusts, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Youth Agency, Creative UK, the Royal Society of Arts, and Arts Council England’s Youth Advisory Board.
This is on top of existing Government initiatives to support the arts in education, including £25 million for musical instruments as committed to alongside the National Plan for Music Education, exploring opportunities for enrichment activities as part of the Government’s wraparound childcare provision, improving creative apprenticeships, and supporting the rollout of relevant T-Levels.
Additionally, we recognise the rich cultural learning experiences that children and young people in England access through the cultural sector, and we are pleased that 79% of organisations being funded through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 national portfolio are delivering activities directly to children and young people – a 20% increase from the last national portfolio.
The Government does not hold data on individual swimming clubs, but Sport England data shows that the number of operational swimming pools on sites owned by Local Authorities in the North West in June 2013 was 239.
We regularly engage with Local Authorities and the Local Government Association (LGA) on the provision of swimming pools, particularly in light of the £63 million support package for swimming pools announced at the Budget. This package will help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term.
The Government does not hold data on individual swimming clubs, but Sport England data shows that the number of operational swimming pools on sites owned by Local Authorities in the North West in June 2013 was 239.
We regularly engage with Local Authorities and the Local Government Association (LGA) on the provision of swimming pools, particularly in light of the £63 million support package for swimming pools announced at the Budget. This package will help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term.
Last summer we witnessed a major success in women’s sport as our very own Lionesses beat Germany at Wembley to lift the UEFA European Championship trophy. The Women’s World Cup this summer will again shine a light on women’s football and we want to make the most of this opportunity.
The Secretary of State made clear the need for a solution to FIFA and a statement was also published in May signed by the Governments of the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy urging both parties to reach an agreement. I welcome the announcement made on 14 June that all 64 matches in this summer's women's World Cup will be broadcast live on the BBC and ITV so our nation can cheer on their heroes as they take on the world at the Women's World Cup this summer and continue to inspire future generations.
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
At the Budget, we announced a dedicated £63 million support package for swimming pools, which is targeted at addressing cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers. It will also help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term. Sport England continues to support swimming, having invested over £12 million in swimming and diving projects since April 2019.
While the Government does not hold data on individual swimming clubs, data held by Sport England shows that in the North West, in June 2019, there were 228 Local Authority swimming pools, compared with 224 in June 2023.
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
At the Budget, we announced a dedicated £63 million support package for swimming pools, which is targeted at addressing cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers. It will also help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term. Sport England continues to support swimming, having invested over £12 million in swimming and diving projects since April 2019.
While the Government does not hold data on individual swimming clubs, data held by Sport England shows that in the North West, in June 2019, there were 228 Local Authority swimming pools, compared with 224 in June 2023.
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
At the Budget, we announced a dedicated £63 million support package for swimming pools, which is targeted at addressing cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers. It will also help provide investment in energy efficiency measures to reduce future operating costs and make facilities sustainable in the long-term. Sport England continues to support swimming, having invested over £12 million in swimming and diving projects since April 2019.
While the Government does not hold data on individual swimming clubs, data held by Sport England shows that in the North West, in June 2019, there were 228 Local Authority swimming pools, compared with 224 in June 2023.
This Government is a staunch supporter of women’s football and the Future of Women’s Football Review is the next step in driving forward momentum for women’s football in this country.
Officials from the Department form the secretariat of the Review alongside the FA. Officials are in near daily contact with the Chair of the Review, and speak at least twice weekly with the Chair to discuss progress and analyse evidence. To date officials have collaborated with the Chair on nine individual stakeholder evidence sessions, a roundtable with Women’s Super League Clubs, and a roundtable with Women’s Championship Clubs. Officials will work with the Chair on a further eight stakeholder roundtables covering the key themes of the review over the next two weeks.
Ministerial engagement will take place in tandem with planned stakeholder roundtables over the coming weeks. The results of the Review will be published in the Chair’s final report, which will be published in spring 2023.
This Government is a staunch supporter of women’s football and the Future of Women’s Football Review is the next step in driving forward momentum for women’s football in this country.
Officials from the Department form the secretariat of the Review alongside the FA. Officials are in near daily contact with the Chair of the Review, and speak at least twice weekly with the Chair to discuss progress and analyse evidence. To date officials have collaborated with the Chair on nine individual stakeholder evidence sessions, a roundtable with Women’s Super League Clubs, and a roundtable with Women’s Championship Clubs. Officials will work with the Chair on a further eight stakeholder roundtables covering the key themes of the review over the next two weeks.
Ministerial engagement will take place in tandem with planned stakeholder roundtables over the coming weeks. The results of the Review will be published in the Chair’s final report, which will be published in spring 2023.
We are determined to support more women and girls to get active and football is the most popular team sport in terms of participation for women and girls.
The Lionesses’ fantastic performance at the 2022 Women’s Euros has truly inspired the nation with a record breaking crowd of over 87,000 attending the final and 23.3m UK viewers tuning into the BBC’s coverage. It is essential that we take the opportunity to capitalise on and build on the success and legacy of the tournament and the team to secure a long lasting and sustainable future for the women’s game.
To raise the profile of facilities in the UK, and to commemorate the Lionesses, the Football Foundation is working with facility owners to name pitches/facilities in towns and cities that have a strong link to each tournament winning squad member. We will also continue to invest in grassroots sport to bring on the next generation of Lionesses and continue to work with the Department for Education to ensure girls have equal access to sports. The Prime Minister and the DCMS Secretary of State were delighted to meet the Lionesses earlier this month who are extraordinary ambassadors for sport. They reconfirmed their commitment to reviewing the barriers to girls accessing two hours of PE.
The recently announced Women’s Football Review will look at how to deliver bold and sustainable growth of the women’s game at elite and grassroots level. We would encourage all interested stakeholders and organisations to come forward and contribute views to Karen Carney’s review. It is vital that we hear from a variety of voices across the game.
Last year we quickly established one of the largest asymptomatic testing programmes in the world. We have now conducted over 90m lateral flow tests in England alone, finding nearly 200k cases. Home testing has been confirmed for some Events Research Programme (ERP) pilots only, and is not indicative of Step 4 policy decisions. ERP learnings will feed into wider policy making on step 4, and further details on broader testing policy will be released in due course. Current asymptomatic testing is available until 31 July, with further decisions on extending this to be taken in line with Step 4 of the Prime Minister's roadmap.
DCMS continues to work closely with other government departments, academic institutions and stakeholders to review evidence on the impact of ongoing restrictions within the live events industries.
Most of the financial support schemes do not end until September or after, in order to provide continuity and certainty for businesses.
Throughout this pandemic there has been over £400 billion of economic support, one of the most generous and comprehensive packages in the world.
Although there is no current plan to make a statement on financial situations of individual sectors/settings, our engagements have helped us to understand both the nature and scale of the impact that this particular industry has faced.
The Events Research Programme report was published on Friday 25 June and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/events-research-programme-phase-i-findings
The Events Research Programme is a joint programme between DCMS, DHSC, and BEIS overseen by an industry-led steering group co-chaired by Sir Nicholas Hytner and David Ross. Evidence from the pilot events is considered by the group to make recommendations to the Prime Minister and the Secretaries of State for DCMS, BEIS and DHSC on how restrictions could be safely lifted at Step 4 of the Roadmap.
The report has been subject to a comprehensive and rigorous coordination and approval process across departments, academic institutions and ERP governance boards, and takes into account the latest public health data.
The Events Research Programme report was published on Friday 25 June and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/events-research-programme-phase-i-findings
The Events Research Programme is a joint programme between DCMS, DHSC, and BEIS overseen by an industry-led steering group co-chaired by Sir Nicholas Hytner and David Ross. Evidence from the pilot events is considered by the group to make recommendations to the Prime Minister and the Secretaries of State for DCMS, BEIS and DHSC on how restrictions could be safely lifted at Step 4 of the Roadmap.
The report has been subject to a comprehensive and rigorous coordination and approval process across departments, academic institutions and ERP governance boards, and takes into account the latest public health data.
We recognise the challenging times facing all sectors currently, and continue to support them in line with the prime minister's roadmap to the full reopening of the economy.
Although we have no plans currently to publish an assessment, the Department has been working closely with stakeholders across large event settings throughout the pandemic, and this has helped us to understand both the nature and the scale of the impact this sector has faced.
Step 4 of The Prime Minister's roadmap allows large events to go ahead in Summer 2021 without restrictions. The roadmap sets out a cautious and gradual approach - led by data, not dates - and while we know there may be loss of some business as a result of the delay to step 4, public health must remain the government’s top priority.
The data capture system for the National Leisure Recovery Fund, Moving Communities, is now fully operational. The platform opened for data submissions at the start of April with 280 Local Authorities relating to c.1100 leisure facilities across England.
A series of headline national statistics will be released over the coming weeks with a fuller report available at the end of June. Local Authorities and the leisure service providers have been able to access their local data and interrogate through the filtering and dashboards available on the platform since the beginning of May.
The Government recognises that it is important that artists are fairly remunerated for their work. We are aware of the concerns that have been raised recently with regards to artists’ revenue from music streaming. The Government welcomes the DCMS Select Committee inquiry into the economics of music streaming, and we have provided evidence to inform the inquiry. We look forward to receiving the Committee’s recommendations, which we will respond to.
We will continue to encourage the ongoing dialogue between music creators, record labels, and streaming services on this issue. The Government has funded a 12-month industry-led research project investigating the flow of money from streaming to creators which is due to report this summer.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the implications of what was set out in the letter from artists to the Prime Minister, but we are considering the issues relating to music streaming more generally.
We welcome the DCMS Select Committee inquiry into the economics of music streaming, and have provided evidence to inform the inquiry. We look forward to receiving the Committee’s recommendations, which we will respond to. We will also be happy to consider any meeting requests from interested stakeholders as appropriate.
The Government has funded a 12-month industry-led research project investigating the flow of money from streaming to creators which is due to report this summer. We will continue to encourage the ongoing dialogue between music creators, record labels, and streaming services on this issue.
The Government recognises that it is important that artists are fairly remunerated for their work. We are aware of the concerns that have been raised recently about artists’ revenue from music streaming.
We welcome the DCMS Select Committee inquiry into the economics of music streaming, and have provided evidence to inform the inquiry. We look forward to receiving the Committee’s recommendations, which we will respond to.
The Government has funded a 12-month industry-led research project investigating the flow of money from streaming to creators which is due to report this summer. We will continue to encourage the ongoing dialogue between music creators, record labels, and streaming services on this issue.
The Department continuously meets with a range of DCMS stakeholders to discuss matters, including the return of fans. However, neither Ministers nor officials met with representatives of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City football clubs in advance of the Super League announcement.
The full list of Ministerial meetings can be found on gov.uk.
The Government is committed to tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. Our strategy ‘Sporting Future’ sets out a clear ambition to increase levels of physical activity amongst under-represented groups. We are working closely with Sport England, DCMS’s arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, to ensure that inequalities are being tackled effectively.
The £20 million Tackling Inequalities Fund (TIF) is an important part of the £270 million support package that Sport England has committed to directly reduce the negative impact COVID 19 and the widening of inequalities in sport and physical activity.
The fund is a focused approach to increasing physical activity for four under-represented groups: lower socio-economic groups, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions. Currently, £13.5 million has been awarded, and £9.7m of this has already reached community organisations and groups directly through 42 Active Partnerships and 30 national partners across the country. As a result there are over 2,800 projects actively being delivered by trusted partners closer to the communities that have previously been unserved by more traditional delivery structures.
Tackling inequalities is also at the heart of Sport England’s recently launched new ten year strategy, ‘Uniting the Movement’, reinforcing their commitment to diversifying participation. DCMS will continue to work closely with Sport England to ensure that inequalities are addressed and tackled in sport and physical activity.
The National Leisure Recovery Fund sought to support eligible public sector leisure centres to reopen to the public, giving the sport and physical activity sector the best chance of recovery to a position of sustainable operation over the medium term. It was delivered in conjunction with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Sport England.
A total of £100 million was available as a biddable fund to eligible local authorities in England, which was allocated in a single funding round. Eligible local authorities include: those in England who hold responsibility for the provision of leisure services, those who have outsourced their leisure provision to an external body to and those whose outsourced leisure arrangements have ended since 20 March 2020 and services are now delivered as an in-house function. This is in addition to the wider financial support provided to councils throughout the pandemic.
As part of the National Leisure Recovery Fund, the government has set up a data capture system to show how the fund has supported the reopening of these vital community assets and the impact on the rate of participation across Local Authorities. Early information will be available at the end of the month and will help to inform future government policy in this space.
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we have made sure that people can exercise throughout the national restrictions.
We know that high quality multi-use local green spaces can play a key role as sporting venues and as alternative settings for sport and healthy activity. Last month Sport England published its new strategy Uniting the Movement which sets out their 10 year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. A key part of the strategy is creating and protecting the local places and spaces that make it easier for people to be active including encouraging walking and cycling.
Last year, Public Health England published Improving Access to Greenspace. The report highlights the strong evidence that regular physical activity supports both individual and community outcomes such as increasing educational attainment, improving self-esteem and reducing social isolation and that greenspace can support higher levels of physical activity.
The Government is committed to tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. Our strategy ‘Sporting Future’ sets out a clear ambition to increase levels of physical activity amongst under-represented groups, working closely with the sector to achieve this. The Tackling Inequalities Fund is an important part of the £270 million support package that Sport England, DCMS’s arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, has committed to directly support community sport clubs and exercise centres through COVID-19.
The £20 million Tackling Inequalities Fund aims to reduce the disproportionately negative impact of the pandemic on physical activity levels for four groups: lower socio-economic groups, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions. Currently, £13.5 million has been awarded to partners, funding over 2,800 projects being delivered through 43 Active Partnerships and 30 national partners across the country.
Sport England’s recently launched new ten year strategy, Uniting the Movement, also reinforces their commitment to diversifying participation and tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. DCMS will continue to work closely with Sport England to ensure that inequalities are addressed and tackled in sport and physical activity.
The National Leisure Recovery Fund sought to support eligible public sector leisure centres to reopen to the public, giving the sport and physical activity sector the best chance of recovery to a position of sustainable operation over the medium term.
A total of £100 million was available as a biddable fund to eligible local authorities in England, which was allocated in a single funding round. Eligible local authorities include: those in England who hold responsibility for the provision of leisure services, those who have outsourced their leisure provision to an external body to and those whose outsourced leisure arrangements have ended since 20 March 2020 and services are now delivered as an in-house function. This is in addition to the wider financial support provided to councils throughout the pandemic.
To help ensure an equitable distribution of the National Leisure Recovery Fund, a Notional Funding Allocation was calculated for each eligible local authority and funding awards were only made in excess of the Notional Funding Allocation in the most exceptional circumstances. The basis of the Notional Funding Allocation is a per capita allocation. This has then been adjusted to take into consideration physical activity levels, number of facilities and health outcome indicators.
Government has worked closely with the Local Government Association (LGA), ukactive, the District Councils' Network, Community Leisure UK, Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association and others to make sure the application and funding process is as fast and simple as possible.
The National Leisure Recovery Fund sought to support eligible public sector leisure centres to reopen to the public, giving the sport and physical activity sector the best chance of recovery to a position of sustainable operation over the medium term.
A total of £100 million was available as a biddable fund to eligible local authorities in England, which was allocated in a single funding round. Eligible local authorities include: those in England who hold responsibility for the provision of leisure services, those who have outsourced their leisure provision to an external body to and those whose outsourced leisure arrangements have ended since 20 March 2020 and services are now delivered as an in-house function. This is in addition to the wider financial support provided to councils throughout the pandemic.
To help ensure an equitable distribution of the National Leisure Recovery Fund, a Notional Funding Allocation was calculated for each eligible local authority and funding awards were only made in excess of the Notional Funding Allocation in the most exceptional circumstances. The basis of the Notional Funding Allocation is a per capita allocation. This has then been adjusted to take into consideration physical activity levels, number of facilities and health outcome indicators.
Government has worked closely with the Local Government Association (LGA), ukactive, the District Councils' Network, Community Leisure UK, Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association and others to make sure the application and funding process is as fast and simple as possible.
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and have been shown to treat, manage and prevent a range of conditions including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, stress, depression or anxiety. It can also bring communities together and tackle issues such as loneliness.
Sport England’s Active Lives Adult and Children surveys provide information not only on activity levels but also on social outcomes such as physical and mental wellbeing too. The latest reports can be found here.
In September last year, Sport England published research (undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University) on the social impact and the economic importance of sport and physical activity in England. The findings of this research show that for every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity in England, an economic and social return on investment of £3.91 is generated. In addition, the combined economic and social value (SROI) of taking part in community sport and physical activity in England in 2017/2018 was £85.5 billion.
Furthermore, last month Sport England published its new strategy Uniting the Movement which sets out their 10 year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. The strategy seeks to tackle the inequalities we have seen in sport and physical activity and provide opportunities to people and communities that have traditionally been left behind, helping to remove barriers to activity.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) engages regularly with representatives of the creative industries on the Covid-19 response, including on economic support and public health policy and guidance. This includes engagement through the working groups on Entertainment and Events and on Broadcasting, Film and Production, which were established with the DCMS Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce.
In addition, DCMS engages with creative industries stakeholders through roundtables and other meetings chaired by ministers, and ongoing, frequent engagement by DCMS officials. DCMS will continue to collaborate with creative industries organisations on the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has engaged with the creative sectors extensively throughout negotiations with the EU and since the announcement of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
At both a ministerial and official level, we hold roundtables to engage with the creative sectors on EU Exit and the UK-EU future relationship. We also engage directly with stakeholders together with Arm's-Length Bodies, on matters relating to EU Exit.
We are committed to continuing our close dialogue with the sectors to ensure they continue to have the support they need to navigate the changes to their ways of working resulting from the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Ministers have regular discussions with their Cabinet Colleagues on a wide range of issues, including cross-border mobility with the EU for musicians and creative workers.
The Secretary of State had discussions with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster this week on the issues faced by creative workers and possible options to support the sectors.
The Government recognises the importance of touring for our world-leading cultural and creative sectors. We have been engaging extensively with the industry to assess impact and further understandings of new requirements for working in the EU. The Secretary of State held a very productive meeting with representatives from across the creative and cultural industries on Wednesday 20th January. Going forward, we are committed to continuing our close dialogue with the sector to ensure they have the support they need to thrive.
Definitions for professionals working in film and television production have been introduced in order to implement the limited exemption to the quarantine regime for the cast and crew of qualifying productions.
The Government is committed to supporting the continued production of film and television content during the ongoing Covid pandemic. As part of the new Health Protection Regulations, the Government has stated that people who cannot work from home should go to their place of work. This means that even in these circumstances film and television production can continue in line with any additional guidance provided. The Government has supported the sector to develop guidance to allow productions to operate safely, and introduced a limited exemption to the quarantine regime for the cast and crew of qualifying productions, in order to restart those productions which rely on international talent.
Football clubs are the bedrock of our local communities. Many public studies demonstrate the significant economic benefit that football clubs bring to towns across the country. These include EY’s Economic and Social Impact Assessment which estimates that the Premier League alone contributes £7.6bn to the UK's Gross Domestic Product.
That is why we have provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many football clubs have benefited from. Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund has also provided £210 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.
We have been clear that we expect the game - where it can at the top tiers - to support itself. The Government is focusing its support on those in the sector most in need as a result of the decision not to readmit spectators to stadia from 1 October. We therefore provided the National League with assurances that financial support from the Government will be forthcoming so they could start their season on 3rd October.
On 22 September it was announced that all sports pilot events currently ongoing would be paused with immediate effect, due to the sharp upward trajectory of Covid-19 cases nationally. A?s set out in our Roadmap, sports events pilots, and the full return of fans to stadia would only ever take place when it was safe to do so in this country.
We are committed to getting spectators back into stadiums as soon as it is safe to do so. We will continue to work closely with a whole range of sports to understand the latest thinking that might allow spectators to return. This includes the creation of a new Sports Technology Innovation Working Group of sporting bodies and health experts to analyse new technologies which might support this, and which will consider international best practice. This will supplement the draft government guidance, and the SGSA supplementary guidance to their Green Guide, which has been internationally welcomed and is now also available in French and Spanish translations.
If transmission rates decrease then we will of course take the opportunity to look again at getting spectators back into stadiums and remain mindful of international efforts to do the same
On 22 September it was announced that all sports pilot events currently ongoing would be paused with immediate effect, due to the sharp upward trajectory of Covid-19 cases nationally. A?s set out in our Roadmap, sports events pilots, and the full return of fans to stadia would only ever take place when it was safe to do so in this country.
We are committed to getting spectators back into stadiums as soon as it is safe to do so. We will continue to work closely with a whole range of sports to understand the latest thinking that might allow spectators to return. This includes the creation of a new Sports Technology Innovation Working Group of sporting bodies and health experts to analyse new technologies which might support this, and which will consider international best practice. This will supplement the draft government guidance, and the SGSA supplementary guidance to their Green Guide, which has been internationally welcomed and is now also available in French and Spanish translations.
If transmission rates decrease then we will of course take the opportunity to look again at getting spectators back into stadiums and remain mindful of international efforts to do the same
Our performing arts and sport guidance makes clear the need for organisers of cultural and sporting events to adhere to government requirements around the NHS Test and Trace system.
Organisers of events should assist the NHS Test and Trace service by keeping a temporary record of spectators for 21 days, in a way that is manageable for their business, and assist NHS Test and Trace with requests for that data if needed. This could help contain clusters or outbreaks.
The Government is continuing to engage with business and industry as we approach the end of the transition period and is working to ensure freelancers, organisations and businesses know what they need to do to prepare.
On 1st September 2020, the Government launched a comprehensive communications campaign to help the UK prepare for the end of the transition period. This includes guidance on customs and mobility procedures important to professionals in the live music industry, including freelance musicians and touring professionals. My department will continue to engage with the creative industries to understand further the specific issues they may face.
The Government is continuing to engage with business and industry as we approach the end of the transition period and is working to ensure freelancers, organisations and businesses know what they need to do to prepare.
On 1st September 2020, the Government launched a comprehensive communications campaign to help the UK prepare for the end of the transition period. This includes guidance on customs and mobility procedures important to professionals in the live music industry, including freelance musicians and touring professionals. My department will continue to engage with the creative industries to understand further the specific issues they may face.
The Government is continuing to engage with business and industry as we approach the end of the transition period and is working to ensure freelancers, organisations and businesses know what they need to do to prepare.
On 1st September 2020, the Government launched a comprehensive communications campaign to help the UK prepare for the end of the transition period. This includes guidance on customs and mobility procedures important to professionals in the live music industry, including freelance musicians and touring professionals. My department will continue to engage with the creative industries to understand further the specific issues they may face.
The Government is continuing to engage with business and industry as we approach the end of the transition period and is working to ensure freelancers, organisations and businesses know what they need to do to prepare.
On 1st September 2020, the Government launched a comprehensive communications campaign to help the UK prepare for the end of the transition period. This includes guidance on customs and mobility procedures important to professionals in the live music industry, including freelance musicians and touring professionals. My department will continue to engage with the creative industries to understand further the specific issues they may face.
DCMS Ministers and officials continue to engage extensively with representatives from across the cultural sector, including with musicians and music sector representative bodies, on the impact of the end of the transition period on musicians working in EU countries.
Over the coming months, as the transition period concludes, and beyond we will maintain our close dialogue with the sector to assess the challenges and support the opportunities that will arise as we enter into to new trading relationships with Europe and the rest of the world.
On 18th August, the Government amended its guidance to provide extra clarification for organisers of non-elite sports events to help them manage and admit spectators safely, adhering to social distancing.
This includes having a named person with responsibility for ensuring adherence with government guidelines and ensuring the facility is COVID-19 secure. This person should carry out and publish a risk assessment for the activity which limits the number of spectators and focuses on the need to maintain social distancing on arrival, for the duration of the activity, and on departure.
The Government will continue to monitor the admittance of spectators and the wider prevailing public health factors closely.
Football clubs form a vital part of our local communities and many have a great history. It is vital that they are protected during these difficult times.
The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout this period, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many football clubs have benefited from these measures.
The Government is in regular dialogue with the football authorities to understand their financial position - but has been absolutely clear that it expects football to look first at how it can support itself through these difficult times.
The Government continues to liaise closely with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) and sporting bodies whilst developing its guidance to support the safe return of spectators to stadia more widely from October 1st. As announced by the Prime Minister, this remains subject to successful pilots events, which will now be capped at 1,000 people, and wider prevailing public health factors.
Capacity limits and ticketing processes will vary based on individual venues and events. Pilots will still be required to receive all relevant local authorisations including their local Safety Advisory Group. Locations and attendance levels may change depending on the local Covid situation. Maximum safe capacity, as a consequence of social distancing guidance, can be calculated through the SGSA’s supplementary guidance to their Green Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds.
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.
The Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so including indoor gyms and sports centres. The Sport Working Group, led by myself, feeds into the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce and ensures strong sector and expert support for the co-development of guidelines and will help leisure facilities become Covid-secure and re-open as early as possible in July.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.
The Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so including indoor gyms and sports centres. The Sport Working Group, led by myself, feeds into the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce and ensures strong sector and expert support for the co-development of guidelines and will help leisure facilities become Covid-secure and re-open as early as possible in July.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.
The Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so including indoor gyms and sports centres. The Sport Working Group, led by myself, feeds into the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce and ensures strong sector and expert support for the co-development of guidelines and will help leisure facilities become Covid-secure and re-open as early as possible in July.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.
The Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so including indoor gyms and sports centres. The Sport Working Group, led by myself, feeds into the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce and ensures strong sector and expert support for the co-development of guidelines and will help leisure facilities become Covid-secure and re-open as early as possible in July.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
The Government has committed to investing an additional £550m into grassroots football facilities over the next 10 years. This will bring the government’s total investment over that period to £730m, and will support the bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.
The FA has produced, in partnership with the Premier League, Sport England and DCMS, the 'National Football Facilities Strategy' (NFSS), which is a coherent overarching shared strategy for capital investment in football over the next ten years.
As part of the NFFS, a 'Local Football Facilities Plan' is being produced for every Local Authority across the country to create a tailored local investment plan.
The Government is committed to supporting grassroots football. The established partnership with the Football Association and the Premier League sees a combined £70m go to new facilities delivered by the Football Foundation. All funding parties are represented on the Football Foundation board.
Government has committed to investing a further £550m into grassroots football facilities over the next 10 years to support plans to bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.
The FA has produced, in partnership with the Premier League, Sport England and DCMS, the 'National Football Facilities Strategy' (NFSS), which is a coherent overarching shared strategy for capital investment in football over the next ten years. This sets out the football facility requirements across the country and the intention to invest in 20,000 improved grass pitches and 1,000 3G facilities.
The Foundation has coverage across the whole country with funding reaching 98% of all local authorities and boroughs in England so far. As part of the NFFS, a 'Local Football Facilities Plan' is being produced for every Local Authority across the country to create a tailored local investment plan. This will help the Football Foundation prioritise its investment most efficiently and effectively.
The Government is committed to supporting grassroots football. The established partnership with the Football Association and the Premier League sees a combined £70m go to new facilities delivered by the Football Foundation. All funding parties are represented on the Football Foundation board.
Government has committed to investing a further £550m into grassroots football facilities over the next 10 years to support plans to bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.
The FA has produced, in partnership with the Premier League, Sport England and DCMS, the 'National Football Facilities Strategy' (NFSS), which is a coherent overarching shared strategy for capital investment in football over the next ten years. This sets out the football facility requirements across the country and the intention to invest in 20,000 improved grass pitches and 1,000 3G facilities.
The Foundation has coverage across the whole country with funding reaching 98% of all local authorities and boroughs in England so far. As part of the NFFS, a 'Local Football Facilities Plan' is being produced for every Local Authority across the country to create a tailored local investment plan. This will help the Football Foundation prioritise its investment most efficiently and effectively.
In addition to publicly available Government advice/guidance, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is holding weekly meetings with senior medical officials and sport representatives to discuss key issues around Covid-19 and communicates regularly with stakeholders across the sporting sector to share the latest advice. We will maintain these discussions as elite sport develops its plans to retain training and to restart competition.
The Government announced on 30 April that the Rugby Football League (RFL) will receive an emergency loan of £16 million to safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves.
The Government recognises the impact that covid-19 is having on the sporting sector. The Chancellor has announced an unprecedented package of measures to help businesses in this period, including £330 billion worth of government-backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK.
Those support measures, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme are open to businesses across the UK and in every sector, including Sport.
In addition, Sport England, has also announced £195 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
The RFL is fully engaged with the process and is ensuring that the sport as a whole is aware of the assistance available and how to access support. It is a matter for individual clubs to pursue the support appropriate for their situation.
We know this is a challenging period for all sports and we continue to work closely with the whole sector to understand the issues they face and how we can best support them through this difficult time.
I am having regular discussions with sector and industry bodies to understand the impact of COVID-19 on sport and how we can provide support. This includes chairing a fortnightly meeting with over 25 sporting organisations. Sport England, the arms-length body of government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport, have been involved in these discussions. In addition to this, my officials maintain daily contact with the sector.
The Chancellor has already announced a host of measures to help businesses, with £330 billion worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK. In addition, Sport England, has also announced £195 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
The government is in regular contact with representatives of sports, including cricket, to discuss both the impact of Covid-19 on sports and to explore how and when grassroots sport can safely resume once lockdown restrictions start to ease. The government has asked individual sports to consider the steps that would need to be taken, and the conditions that would need to be met, for their activity to resume.
The government has been clear that any return to sport will need to be consistent with existing guidelines on public health and managed in a way that minimises risk.
The Government recognises the impact that covid-19 is having on the sporting sector. The Chancellor has announced an unprecedented package of measures to help businesses in this period, including £330 billion worth of government-backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme support measures are open to businesses across the UK and in every sector, including Sport.
In addition, Sport England, has also announced £195 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is fully engaged with the process and is ensuring that the sport as a whole is aware of the assistance available and how to access support. It is a matter for individual clubs to pursue the support appropriate for their situation.
We know this is a challenging period for all sports and we continue to work closely with the whole sector to understand the issues they face and how we can best support them through this difficult time.
Football clubs form an integral part of this country and it is important they are given as much support as possible during these difficult times.
In light of this, the Government announced a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support.
It is also vital that the football community comes together at this time, and I welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid. The EFL has also announced a £50m relief fund to help their clubs enduring immediate cash flow problems because of the coronavirus crisis.
The Government will continue to liaise closely with all the football authorities to further understand the difficulties clubs are experiencing.
Tackling the covid-19 outbreak is the Government’s top priority, and unfortunately the actions taken to do so have meant that sports events have had to be postponed or cancelled. We are in regular contact with the sport sector - including football clubs - on the financial consequences of this for organisations.
The Government has announced a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support.
It is also vital that the football community comes together at this time, and I welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid.
We recognise the impact that covid-19 is having on the sport sector, and we are continuing to engage with sporting organisations to understand how it is affecting them and provide support.
The Chancellor has already announced a host of measures to help businesses, with £330 billion worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK. In addition, our national sports council, Sport England, has also announced £195 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
The government wants to make sure that all students, regardless of background or circumstances, see a positive return on their significant investment in higher education (HE). This means they must achieve good quality qualifications, which equip them with the skills they need to achieve their potential.
Students are more likely to continue and complete their courses if they are of high quality. On 17July, we announced a package of reforms aimed at improving the quality of HE provision across the sector. The Prime Minister said then, and in his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, that the government will stop universities offering low value “rip-off degrees”. The OfS has already introduced a more rigorous and effective quality regime, including new minimum thresholds for student outcomes and has begun a new programme of investigations, the first reports of which were published on 12 September. Further information is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/ofs-publishes-first-reports-of-quality-assessment-visits/.
The department intends to ask the OfS to limit student recruitment where a provider is found to have breached student outcomes requirements, and would like to see consideration of future earnings made part of the regulatory regime.
The government is also focused on supporting students in practical ways. We have made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students, including for disadvantaged students. We have frozen the maximum level of tuition fees and we are trying to minimise the debt burdens for graduates wherever we can.
Those students struggling with their mental health can access Student Space, a mental health and wellbeing hub funded with £3.6m by OfS and the HE Funding Council Wales. This resource provides a dedicated online platform for students providing vital mental health and wellbeing resources. Over 450,000 students have accessed the platforms resources since its launch in August 2020.
We have asked the OfS to distribute £15 million of funding to providers in 2023/24 to support student mental health, including providing additional support for transitions from school/college to university, with a particular focus on providing counselling services for students. This funding will also allow providers to continue to develop better partnerships with local NHS services to ensure that students are able to access support in a timely manner, and not slip between the gaps in university and NHS provision. Partnership working between HE providers and the NHS will improve the care of students experiencing poor mental health by ensuring a more joined up approach to the delivery of mental health support.
I expect these combined efforts to have positive impacts on degree continuation and completion rates, as well as rates of progression into professional employment and further study.
Figures on non-continuation following year one of entry are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for full-time first-degree entrants starting higher education courses between 2015/16 and 2019/20. The statistics published by HESA are summarised in Table 1 in the accompanying excel attachment .
More recent information on continuation rates, which are the inverse of non-continuation or drop-out rates, for first year full-time degree entrants entering higher education are published by the Office for Students (OfS). The statistics published by OfS are summarised in Table 2 in the accompanying excel attachment.
Early in-year student withdrawal notifications are published by Student Loans Company (SLC) for the academic years 2018/19 through to 2022/23, and offer a more up-to-date indication of students not continuing their studies. The most recent publication has an effective date of 31 May of each academic year. The statistics published by SLC are summarised in Table 3 in the accompanying excel attachment.
Figures on non-continuation following year one of entry are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for full-time first-degree entrants starting higher education courses between 2015/16 and 2019/20. The statistics published by HESA are summarised in Table 1 in the accompanying excel attachment .
More recent information on continuation rates, which are the inverse of non-continuation or drop-out rates, for first year full-time degree entrants entering higher education are published by the Office for Students (OfS). The statistics published by OfS are summarised in Table 2 in the accompanying excel attachment.
Early in-year student withdrawal notifications are published by Student Loans Company (SLC) for the academic years 2018/19 through to 2022/23, and offer a more up-to-date indication of students not continuing their studies. The most recent publication has an effective date of 31 May of each academic year. The statistics published by SLC are summarised in Table 3 in the accompanying excel attachment.
The safety of pupils and staff is vital. This is why the Department has been significantly investing in transforming schools across the country. Where there are serious safety issues with a building, the Department takes immediate and swift action to ensure the safety of pupils and school staff.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools. They should alert the Department if there is a concern with a building.
The Department provides these responsible bodies with significant funding targeted toward where it is most needed to help them carry out these responsibilities, alongside a package of other guidance and support that the National Audit Office (NAO) found was comprehensive and well regarded by the sector.
The Department allocates significant funding to those responsible for the school estate to improve their buildings. This is over £15 billion since 2015, including 1.8 billion committed for the 2023/24 financial year.
The School Rebuilding Programme is transforming buildings at 500 schools over the course of the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition. The Department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.
As set out by the NAO, buildings can normally be used beyond their estimated initial design life through regular maintenance and upgrades.
CDC1 and CDC2 are high level Condition Data Collection (CDC) programmes, the largest such surveys of UK public sector buildings. They allow the Department to understand the condition of the school estate over time and inform capital funding and programmes.
Individual reports are shared with every school and their responsible bodies, to help inform their investment plans alongside their own more detailed condition surveys and safety checks.
The Department is working with responsible bodies, schools, and colleges to support them through the process of investigation, assessment, and management of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
The Department has been communicating with schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018, when the Department first published a warning note with the Local Government Association.
Since then, the Department has published guidance in identifying and managing RAAC. In March 2022, the Department asked all schools to share their knowledge of RAAC, its presence in their buildings, and how they are managing it. The Department is following up rigorously to ensure as complete a response as possible.
The Department continues to urge all responsible bodies to get in touch with it immediately if they have any concerns about their school building. The Department relies on this information to enable it to take swift action.
The questionnaire is still open for responses from responsible bodies and schools, and the Department also encourages settings to update their responses if their situation changes.
The Department’s professional surveyors have already carried out over 200 assessments where RAAC is suspected to verify its presence and assess its condition. The Department is on track to complete 600 assessments by autumn, ahead of the initial forecast of December 2023.
In cases where RAAC is confirmed, the Department provides rapid support to schools on the advice of structural engineers. This could include funding capital works to remove any immediate risk and, where absolutely necessary, the provision of temporary buildings.
Longer term remediation of RAAC is supported by capital funding provided to the sector, the Department’s rebuilding programme and urgent capital support.
The safety of pupils and staff is vital. This is why the Department has been significantly investing in transforming schools across the country. Where there are serious safety issues with a building, the Department takes immediate and swift action to ensure the safety of pupils and school staff.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools. They should alert the Department if there is a concern with a building.
The Department provides these responsible bodies with significant funding targeted toward where it is most needed to help them carry out these responsibilities, alongside a package of other guidance and support that the National Audit Office (NAO) found was comprehensive and well regarded by the sector.
The Department allocates significant funding to those responsible for the school estate to improve their buildings. This is over £15 billion since 2015, including 1.8 billion committed for the 2023/24 financial year.
The School Rebuilding Programme is transforming buildings at 500 schools over the course of the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition. The Department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.
As set out by the NAO, buildings can normally be used beyond their estimated initial design life through regular maintenance and upgrades.
CDC1 and CDC2 are high level Condition Data Collection (CDC) programmes, the largest such surveys of UK public sector buildings. They allow the Department to understand the condition of the school estate over time and inform capital funding and programmes.
Individual reports are shared with every school and their responsible bodies, to help inform their investment plans alongside their own more detailed condition surveys and safety checks.
The Department is working with responsible bodies, schools, and colleges to support them through the process of investigation, assessment, and management of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
The Department has been communicating with schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018, when the Department first published a warning note with the Local Government Association.
Since then, the Department has published guidance in identifying and managing RAAC. In March 2022, the Department asked all schools to share their knowledge of RAAC, its presence in their buildings, and how they are managing it. The Department is following up rigorously to ensure as complete a response as possible.
The Department continues to urge all responsible bodies to get in touch with it immediately if they have any concerns about their school building. The Department relies on this information to enable it to take swift action.
The questionnaire is still open for responses from responsible bodies and schools, and the Department also encourages settings to update their responses if their situation changes.
The Department’s professional surveyors have already carried out over 200 assessments where RAAC is suspected to verify its presence and assess its condition. The Department is on track to complete 600 assessments by autumn, ahead of the initial forecast of December 2023.
In cases where RAAC is confirmed, the Department provides rapid support to schools on the advice of structural engineers. This could include funding capital works to remove any immediate risk and, where absolutely necessary, the provision of temporary buildings.
Longer term remediation of RAAC is supported by capital funding provided to the sector, the Department’s rebuilding programme and urgent capital support.
The National Careers Service provides free, up to date impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. The service is delivered by 765 careers advisers working in the community and supporting telephone and webchat channels. The service is available to young people and adults through the website and telephone helpline. Adults can also access face-to-face guidance through the local community-based service.
There are 121 full time equivalent professionally qualified careers advisers who are dedicated to work on the National Careers Service locally delivered telephone channel. These advisers primarily provide the service via telephone, but may also work in the community and support live webchat. The average length of telephone calls is shown below, split between Information and Advice calls (IA) and Information, Advice and Guidance calls (IAG):
Sources:
The National Careers Service provides free, up to date impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. The service is delivered by 765 careers advisers working in the community and supporting telephone and webchat channels. The service is available to young people and adults through the website and telephone helpline. Adults can also access face-to-face guidance through the local community-based service.
There are 121 full time equivalent professionally qualified careers advisers who are dedicated to work on the National Careers Service locally delivered telephone channel. These advisers primarily provide the service via telephone, but may also work in the community and support live webchat. The average length of telephone calls is shown below, split between Information and Advice calls (IA) and Information, Advice and Guidance calls (IAG):
Sources:
The government is investing over £87 million in 2023/24 in high-quality careers provision for all ages. This includes a grant of up to £29.7 million for The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support secondary schools and colleges to improve their careers programmes in line with the government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance.
The vast majority of secondary schools and colleges are now voluntarily working with the CEC through accessing training for Careers Leaders, joining a Careers Hub, partnering with an Enterprise Adviser (business volunteer) and using Compass/Compass+ digital tools.
Over 90% (4,568) of schools and colleges in England are now part of a Careers Hub, benefiting 2.3 million students. 70% (3,520) are partnered with an Enterprise Adviser to support the development of career strategies and employer engagement plans.
The department is ensuring parity of esteem for technical and academic options. We strengthened the provider access legislation which came into force in January 2023 and specifies that schools must provide at least six opportunities for providers of technical education and apprenticeships to speak to all pupils, during school years 8 to 13.
The department is also putting £3.2 million into the Apprenticeship, Support and Knowledge programme which supports students in years 10 to 13 in schools and colleges, along with their parents/carers and teachers to understand and apply for apprenticeships, T Levels and traineeships.
The department’s approach is working with evidence pointing to improved outcomes for young people. Evidence from three cohorts of year 11 leavers (2016/17 – 2018/19) suggests that each of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks achieved reduces the likelihood of any young person being not in education, employment or training, or in an unknown destination by 1.1%. The relationship is twice as strong in the quarter of schools with the most economically disadvantaged intake, as measured by free school meal entitlement.
Career readiness grows as young people move through secondary school. In 2021/22, a CEC survey of 34,986 young people shows their career readiness improves as they progress through school, rising from 45% in year 7 to 67% in year 11 and 74% in year 13.
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
As part of education recovery and in response to the needs of the workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic, the department is investing up to £180 million in the early years sector. This will build a stronger workforce and enable providers to deliver high-quality teaching and help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the youngest children, particularly those in the most disadvantaged areas.
The workforce investment includes two further phases of the early years professional development programme, building on an initial £20 million programme. This high quality, evidence-based programme is targeted at practitioners in disadvantaged areas. It will provide targeted support to early years staff in communication and language, maths, and personal, social, and emotional development.
In response to feedback from the sector, the department is supporting up to 5,000 early years staff and childminders to become qualified Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCo).
The department is also developing new early years training routes. Employer trailblazer groups have developed level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, and, in August 2021, the department launched a level 5 apprenticeship. From April 2021, free level 3 early years qualifications became available through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
The latest figures from the department’s education 'Providers’ finances: survey of childcare and early years providers', collected in 2021, show that 22% of staff aged 23 and over working in a private or voluntary setting, nursery class or maintained nursery school were paid at or below the statutory minimum of the National Living Wage, the survey can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providers-finances-survey-of-childcare-and-ey-providers-2021.
At the time of the survey, the rate for both the National Living Wage (for those aged 23 and over) and for the National Minimum wage (for those of at least school leaving age) was £8.72 until April 2021 and £8.91 from April 2021.
Some 65% of childminders were paid below these rates. However, as childminders are self-employed, the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage do not apply.
The government is consulting on moving to the Scottish ratios for two-year-olds, from a ratio of one-to-four (one adult to four children) to one-to-five (one adult to five children). The government is also considering how we can provide greater flexibility within ratios for childminders.
Alongside this consultation, the department is running a bespoke survey of early years providers to help us understand how the proposed changes to staff to child ratios in early years settings might affect provision, including their intention to adopt any changes. The results of this survey will be published.
Our priority continues to be to provide safe, high quality early years provision for our youngest children. Throughout this consultation process we are engaging fully with the sector and parents and carers.
The department does not hold the average proportion of household income that families spent on childcare in each region of the UK and, therefore, cannot provide an estimate for this question.
The 2022 Coram Family and Childcare Survey outlines the average prices of childcare in Great Britain and does contain a regional breakdown. This information is available here: https://www.coram.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource_files/Coram%20Childcare%20Survey%20-%202022.pdf
The 2019 childcare and early years survey of parents provided some details around the average weekly costs of childcare in each region. This information is available on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2019.
The table below splits out the mean and median family-level weekly payment for childcare by region. These payments are for families with a child aged 0 to 4, who paid a childcare provider (or providers) in a specific week for their children aged 0 to 14.
Region | Median (£) | Mean (£) | Standard Error | Unweighted base |
North East | 31.00 | 53.18 | 4.78 | 102 |
North West | 40.00 | 68.87 | 6.10 | 333 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 44.10 | 69.47 | 5.74 | 297 |
East Midlands | 61.58 | 84.99 | 8.08 | 212 |
West Midlands | 43.46 | 68.92 | 7.07 | 300 |
East of England | 42.54 | 74.56 | 6.79 | 260 |
London | 91.97 | 135.51 | 13.89 | 233 |
South East | 45.00 | 80.58 | 6.07 | 361 |
South West | 44.00 | 60.12 | 4.05 | 246 |
The survey also showed that the overall median weekly amount paid by families to childcare providers (including both formal and informal providers) was £45.00.
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Wirral South, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
According to survey estimates, the mean hourly pay (calculated as gross weekly earnings divided by contracted weekly work hours) for people working in the early years sector in 2021 was as follows, by provider type:
Early years provider type | Mean hourly pay (2021) |
All providers | £12.50 |
All providers except childminders | £12.94 |
Private providers | £11.94 |
Voluntary providers | £11.58 |
Nursery classes | £18.78 |
Maintained nursery schools | £19.38 |
Childminders | £8.23 |
Source: Table 12, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providers-finances-survey-of-childcare-and-ey-providers-2021.
The government has spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on the early education entitlements and continues to help families with their childcare bills through Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit.
On 4 July 2022, the department also announced further measures to increase take-up of childcare support and reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. These reforms will help address the costs of childcare for thousands of working parents through a renewed drive to ensure parents access the support they are entitled to, ensuring government regulation is proportionate and providing greater flexibility for providers to be responsive to changing needs.
The government recognises the pressure on families relating to the cost of living and has announced £37 billion of support targeted at those most in need.
In March 2022, the department surveyed teachers and school leaders in the School and College Panel. The results of this survey revealed that 65% of primary schools that responded offered after-school childcare. When weighted to be nationally representative, this translates to around 11,000 primary schools.
The results of the survey are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1087043/School_and_college_panel_March_2022_Report.pdf.
The department does not have an estimate of the total number of schools which provide a breakfast club. The ‘School and College Panel – March 2022 wave’ research report, published in June 2022, reported that 75% of schools ran breakfast club provision for pupils. The report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1087043/School_and_college_panel_March_2022_Report.pdf.
The department has invested more than £3.5 billion in each of the last three years to deliver our early education entitlements.
The information requested is not held by the department but has been published previously by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its Education at a Glance 2021 report.
The OECD publishes data on expenditure for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). This shows that the UK spent 0.3% of GDP on pre-primary education and care (ISCED 02)[1], compared to the OECD average of 0.6%. The differences on expenditure are largely explained by enrolment rates, legal entitlements, and the intensity of participation, as well as the different starting ages for primary education. The UK has one of the earliest primary school starting ages in the OECD, with most children starting at age 4. Therefore, the window for pre-primary education and spend is smaller than in many other OECD countries. This information is available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/financing-of-early-childhood-education-and-care-isced-0-and-change-in-expenditure-2018_b62e6aba-en.
[1] ISCED 02 refers to the UNESCO pre-primary education term. A full definition is available at: http://uis.unesco.org/node/3674229.
According to data from the 2021 Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, 21% of families with children aged 0 to 4 used grandparents to help provide childcare for their children.
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Wirral South, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
In January and February 2021, reported to date, there have been 49,550 apprenticeship starts in England. The attached table contains breakdowns of these 49,550 starts by sector subject area and level.
The last publication of apprenticeship starts by region covers August 2020 to January 2021, reported to date, and can be found in the 'Geographical breakdowns' section of the 'Apprenticeships and traineeships' release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/2020-21.
The next update of apprenticeship starts by region will be published in July 2021.
In January and February 2021, reported to date, there have been 49,550 apprenticeship starts in England. The attached table contains breakdowns of these 49,550 starts by sector subject area and level.
The last publication of apprenticeship starts by region covers August 2020 to January 2021, reported to date, and can be found in the 'Geographical breakdowns' section of the 'Apprenticeships and traineeships' release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/2020-21.
The next update of apprenticeship starts by region will be published in July 2021.
Pupil counts by year group are published in the annual “Schools, pupils and their characteristics” statistical release. This includes pupils who are coming to the end of their secondary education in Year 11 and those in Years 12 to 14 in school sixth forms. Data relating to the 2020/21 academic year will be published in June 2021 at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students enrolled in higher education (HE) in the UK.
The latest statistics on students graduating from HE refer to the academic year 2019/20. They are available in Figure 15 (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb258/figure-15) of the HESA publication ‘Higher Education Statistics: UK’: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/27-01-2021/sb258-higher-education-student-statistics.
Statistics about students obtaining qualifications in the 2020/21 academic year will be published by the HESA in January 2022. The department does not hold an estimate of how many students are expected to graduate.
Apprenticeships will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow. To help employers offer new apprenticeships, they are now able to claim £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, in recognition of the particular impacts of COVID-19 on the employment prospects of this group, and £1,500 for new apprentices aged 25 and over. These incentive payments were announced as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs in July 2020 and the extension of the scheme (to the end of March 2021) was announced in the November Spending Review. Employers have been able to register to claim the incentive since 1 September 2020.
It is encouraging that employers continue to see the value apprentices can bring to their businesses; as of 1 December 2020 employers had so far claimed incentive payments for 11,520 apprentices. We do not hold figures for incentive payments by industry sector.
Updated figures will be published in the ‘Apprenticeships and traineeships: January 2021’ statistics publication on 28 January 2021, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-january-2021.
We are supporting the largest-ever expansion of traineeships, providing an additional 30,000 places in 2020/21 academic year, to ensure that more young people have access to high-quality training. To encourage this, we have introduced £1000 incentive payments for employers who offer traineeship work placement opportunities between 1 September 2020 and 31 July 2021. The new incentive payment will enable employers to apply for £1000 per learner, for up to 10 learners per region, in each of the 9 regions of England.
From 27 January, employers can register to claim this incentive payment and as such, we do not yet have data on the take-up of incentive payments. Employers will be able to claim the incentive payment for all completed traineeship work experience placements that take place between the 1 September 2020 and 31 July 2021 even if the traineeship started before the 1 September 2020. We will monitor the take-up of the new payments and will assess their impact on traineeships starts to ensure traineeships continue to provide the extra support required by young people for them to progress into work or onto an apprenticeship.
The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.
The department does not hold a contract with any provider to provide free school meals of lunch parcels to children. School catering contracts are agreed locally, and are held at school, academy trust, or local authority level. We have guidance in place allowing schools to decide the best approach for supporting free school meal pupils who are at home. This can be through lunch parcels, local vouchers or the national voucher scheme which was available from Monday.
The images circulating of poor-quality food parcels are unacceptable. On 13 January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, met with Chartwell’s and other leading school food suppliers and caterers to insist on urgent action to make sure lunch parcels meet the standards we expect. We are grateful to those firms who are working hard with schools to provide nutritious, balanced lunches for children.
If a parent is concerned about the standards of their lunch parcel, they should speak directly with their school. If a parent cannot resolve their concern through their school, they can contact the department. The department will make contact with suppliers where concerns are escalated, to ensure they are following the good practice guidance we have set out. We will also alert the school to confirm appropriate contract management arrangements are in place, so that immediate improvements are made.
The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by industry sector cover the academic years 2012/13 to 2018/19 and are published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics
The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing industry in England between academic years 2012/13 and 2018/19.
| Academic year | ||||||
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
Total matched apprenticeship starts | 450,710 | 388,590 | 445,910 | 457,020 | 449,830 | 346,840 | 366,170 |
C - Manufacturing | 29,780 | 27,230 | 32,180 | 36,820 | 36,170 | 26,160 | 26,850 |
Data previous to 2012/13 is unavailable and data for 2019/20 will be published in February 2021.
The department does not hold information on the income backgrounds of apprentices.
We publish breakdowns of apprenticeship starts by learner age:
We also publish breakdowns of apprenticeship starts by Indices of Multiple Deprivation of the learner’s home postcode from 2014/15 onwards: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
We are not asking schools to open over the summer holidays. Teachers, support staff and head teachers deserve a break, to recharge and rest.
We are aware that some headteachers may be considering using their catch-up premium to provide summer school activities for their pupils. Where this is the case, they have the flexibility, discretion and autonomy to decide how they want to do this. To support schools in planning how to use the catch-up premium, the Education Endowment Foundation has produced a guide which includes advice on summer schools and contains a link to a Teach First toolkit specifically focused on summer schools, for schools that choose to do this.
Holiday clubs and out-of-school clubs for children will also be able to restart over the summer, with safety measures in place. These clubs will be part of Step 3 of the recovery strategy (from 4 July). We have published guidance for the sector on how to implement the protective measures necessary to open safely:
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has a dedicated creative industries team of 14 staff, a network of approximately 275 International Trade Advisors (ITAs) in the English regions supporting companies of all types, and trade policy, export and investment specialists in over a hundred countries globally.
My department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the economic benefits of the Music Export Growth Scheme, which will be completed by May 2021.
The Department does not routinely hold data related to service alterations at specific times of the day. Passengers are protected by the National Conditions of Carriage and where the last train of the day is cancelled operators must provide alternative transport to their destination or accommodation where they reasonably can. Across the day Avanti has reduced self-caused cancellations to 4.2 per cent in early March, but still needs to do more to win back passengers with a reliable and dependable service.
Train operating companies plan the formations for their rolling stock deployment, using their available fleet to match expected demand. Planned and unplanned adjustments to this may occur for a range of reasons such as engineering works, special events, faults or failures. When making the decision to alter the number of coaches on a train service, train operating companies provide advice to customer information systems wherever possible, but there is no stipulated requirement for a discrete notice period.
Operators aim to understand and mitigate resource availability as far out as possible but circumstances such as training, sickness, other restrictions, and emergency releases as well as other external factors can change the position right up until the day of travel. Disruption is further exacerbated by inflexible working practices and terms and conditions, which is why workforce reforms are vital to build a better, more reliable railway for passengers.
This information is publicly available through The Office of Rail and Road's data portal. It can be found at:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/.
Whilst the question refers to calendar months, railway performance information is presented in four-weekly rail periods as standard.
This information is publicly available through The Office of Rail and Road's data portal. It can be found at:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/.
Whilst the question refers to calendar months, railway performance information is presented in four-weekly rail periods as standard.
Avanti West Coast has reported a total of 459 full cancelations compared to 11,325 planned services since 1 January 2023 attributed to staff shortages.
This information is publicly available through The Office of Rail and Road's data portal. It can be found at the following link:
https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/.
The changes to The Highway Code aim to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.
The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes increased from 36% in January 2022 to 58% in August 2022, with 83% of road users having heard of the changes by August.
There are no plans to increase the frequency of publication at this stage, though this will be reviewed based on any feedback from users of the statistics in future, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
On 11 December Avanti West Coast (AWC) implemented major changes to its timetable, increasing services from four trains per hour to seven trains per hour, which is expected to lead to an improvement in reliability. The delivery of the new timetable has been restricted by strike action and, on non-strike days, bad weather and engineering works, which has meant that passengers are yet to see a sustained improvement.
The Department will review AWC’s operational performance over the term of the Emergency Measures contract as one of the important factors when considering the contractual arrangements for train services on the West Coast Main Line beyond 1 April 2023, recognising that not all factors are within AWC’s control. Whether there has been stable industrial relations and cooperation from Trade Unions will be taken into consideration.
The Government recognises the vital role public transport plays in getting people to and from work at all times of the day and night. The National Bus Strategy published last year, recognises the important role buses play in meeting local transport needs. The Strategy is clear that Partnership and franchising arrangements must deliver more comprehensive services, including those which are socially or economically necessary. This includes more services in the evenings and at weekends.
We have been clear through the National Bus Strategy that partnerships and franchising arrangements must deliver more comprehensive services, including those which are socially or economically necessary. As part of the Strategy the Government plans to issue new guidance on ‘socially necessary’ services, expanding the category to include ‘economically necessary’ services such as those supporting the night time economy.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to answer 95 per cent of hon. Members correspondence within eight working days. The impact of the pandemic and industrial action taken by the Public and Commercial Services union last year has resulted in delays in processing applications and a subsequent increase in correspondence. Correspondence relating to vehicle or enforcements work are all currently being answered within the timescale. Correspondence relating to drivers or drivers’ medical concerns are outside this target. For example in February 2022, the DVLA answered over 80 per cent of hon. Members correspondence in 20 working days.
The DVLA has allocated extra resource to the teams that deal with these enquiries and this is showing an improving picture. The DVLA also offers hon. Members a dedicated phone line for their use.
The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is to use its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. The DVLA has been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. Industrial action between April and the end of August by members of the Public and Commercial Services union and the current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham. The DVLA has reconfigured its accommodation to safely maximise the number of staff on site and is working hard to process paper applications as quickly as possible. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.
These measures are having a positive impact. The queues are reducing, and customers will continue to see an improving picture in terms of turnaround times.
All DWP new entrant work coaches undergo a minimum mandatory learning journey compromising of a combination of induction, onboarding, and operational fundamental learning prior to progressing into their work coach technical learning.
The work coach specific learning is a total of 30 days and is a combination of facilitated learning and consolidation, this is followed by a 2-day mental health learning event.
Additionally, all new work coaches undergo mandatory Keeping Safe learning which is for employees who have direct contact with members of the public.
The information provided in the table below shows the number and proportion of attended appointments between 14/10/2023 and 14/11/2023.
Appointment Channel | Number | Percent |
Phone | 548,000 | 22.9 |
Video | 109,000 | 4.6 |
In person | 1,736,000 | 72.5 |
These figures are derived from DWP’s administrative data and relate to in-person, telephone, and video appointments with Universal Credit claimants. All Universal Credit types are included. Non-Universal Credit appointments are not included. The numbers of appointments have been rounded to the nearest thousand, and the percentages to the nearest 0.1%.
Incentives for Work Coaches are not included as part of DWP’s performance management approach, but good performance and achievements are recognised.
Within the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot we did include testing of incentives across 60 jobcentres. Phase 1 of this test concluded on 31 August 2023.
Statistics on Intensive Personalised Employment Support are planned for future publication and will be formally released, adhering to the Official Statistics guidance. Although MI is available internally, it is important that it remains restricted and is not shared externally prior to release of the Official Statistics.
The publication of official information is a properly planned and managed process, to ensure that the data is accurate once placed into the public domain. It is in the public interest to ensure that the information is available to all members of the public at the same time, and premature publication could undermine this principle.
The department plans to publish the next experimental statistics for the Restart Scheme in December 2023.
Contracted Employment is provided from 2017/18 to 2022/23:
| 2017/18 Actual | 2018/19 Actual | 2019/20 Actual | 2020/21 Actual | 2021/22 Actual | 2022/23 Actual | GRAND TOTAL |
Total | £200,000 | £1,000,000 | £3,919,670 | £5,722,876 | £9,226,277 | £9,702,598 | £29,771,421 |
The total includes estimated non-recurrent set up costs of approximately £3m.
The Trailblazer deals were developed alongside the combined authorities to help address local priorities.
Full details of the WMCA deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Trailblazer deals present a genuinely new and different way of approaching employment support. Therefore, we have agreed the impacts and outcomes of the trailblazer approach will be evaluated.
Full details of the WMCA deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Employment Data Lab is an external-facing service designed to evaluate employment support provided by external organisations and to share the findings publicly. The service does not evaluate jobcentres or the Department’s employment services and DWP’s wider approach to evaluation is set out in its Evaluation Strategy published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-evaluation-strategy/dwp-evaluation-strategy). Further information can be found on the Employment Data Lab webpages on gov.uk (www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-data-lab).
The Employment Data Lab is an external-facing service designed to evaluate employment support provided by external organisations. DWP would not be directly involved in funding decisions for these programmes.
The Department for Work and Pensions has agreed a deepened devolution deal with West Midlands Combined Authority and full details of the deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority:“Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The details of any data sharing requirements of labour market and skills programmes in the Trailblazer deals will be determined throughout the design process and will follow the usual processes. The DWP Employment Data Lab is a service aimed at organisations that are external to DWP and who work with people to help them into employment. For further information on the data lab, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-data-lab-information-and-guidance/employment-data-lab-user-guide.
The next publication is planned for Winter 2023/24, subject to the outcome of quality assurance processes.
An alignment happens naturally within the working arrangements of the DWP and Local Authorities (LA). At present, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and DWP align with 6 of the 7 LA’s within the Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country Districts.
Coventry, as part of Mercia District, is the 7th LA. Whilst Mercia takes in the rural parts of the DWP West Midlands geography (Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin), Coventry is very much an integral part of the WMCA’s area and forms an important part of the wider and inclusive partnership working arrangements.
All parts of the WMCA fall within the wider DWP West Midlands Region and the accountability of the same Leadership Team.
DWP new entrant work coaches complete a comprehensive mandatory learning journey enabling them to treat each customer as an individual regardless of their circumstances.
The learning journey includes specific modules on claimant commitments and carers which provide the work coach with the knowledge and skills to tailor the commitment to individuals based on their needs.
We also provide work coaches with access to point of need learning about supporting lead carers, this can be accessed by both new and existing work coaches as and when they require additional support.
The department has no current plans to publish new guidance for Jobcentre work coaches on managing claimant commitments for lead carers of children aged between 3 and 12.
Activity | ABM FTE |
(UCJC) Disability Employment Adviser | 750 |
Source: Derived from the department’s Activity Based Model (ABM).
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There is no formal methodology – each Written Parliamentary Question is judged on its own merits, including whether a response can reasonably be provided within the cost limit.
The department follows the guidance produced by the Cabinet Office in the following documents:
Guide to Parliamentary Work
2022-10-11 - Guide to Parliamentary Work (publishing.service.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)
Guidance on drafting answers to Parliamentary Questions:
The Customer Satisfaction Measure (CSM) results of the Restart Scheme are not currently published; however, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) retains the right to do so in the future.
Department for Work and Pensions review the findings from the Restart Scheme customer satisfaction surveys quarterly and identify key themes or feedback and share these with providers, to improve performance.
If any specific issues are identified, DWP works with the relevant parties to address these at Contract Package Area or national level. Any participants with a health condition receive a tailored action plan which takes into consideration their individual needs. However, DWP has not received any feedback specific to this claimant group.
No formal assessment has been made of the impact of the Employment Data Lab service on the effectiveness of either jobcentres or existing employment services.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for getting people into work and making work pay.
We are driving forward significant recruitment to deliver on our Labour Market programmes to get more people off benefits and into work, which is fair stewardship of taxpayers money.
At Spring Budget, we introduced a range of measures providing extra support for people to move into work and progress into better-paid jobs, particularly disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, parents, over-50s, unemployed people and people on Universal Credit and working fewer than full-time hours. Along with increased employment support, this includes increased expectations for lead carers of children on Universal Credit, as well as increasing the AET.
We acknowledge the Youth Employment Group’s report calling for the Government to adopt a Young Person’s Guarantee and note the five recommended policy proposals.
The Government is committed to delivering targeted support for all young people, no matter what their start in life or the challenges they face, to give them the best chance of getting into work.
Within DWP, the Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16-24 who are on the Universal Credit and searching for work. We have recently expanded Youth Offer support to enable more young people on Universal Credit to see a work coach in a Youth Hub or to benefit from the expertise of our Youth Employability Coaches.
By extending the Youth Offer to other Universal Credit claimants we are helping more young people not in education, employment or training who claim Universal Credit to access this essential support. Some Youth Hubs will also offer a drop-in facility where these young people who do not have a UC claim will be able to access support.
Lastly, we recognise that ensuring young people have the most appropriate support, education or training to enable them to enter sustained employment and progress in their careers requires a cross-government approach. In partnership with DfE and DCMS, we have established a new cross Government Forum on Youth Skills for Life and Work. The forum provides an opportunity for departments to identify and act on opportunities to work closer together on crosscutting youth issues and to equip young people with the skills for life and work that they will need to fulfil their potential and drive growth for the country.
We acknowledge the Youth Employment Group’s report calling for the Government to adopt a Young Person’s Guarantee and note the five recommended policy proposals.
The Government is committed to delivering targeted support for all young people, no matter what their start in life or the challenges they face, to give them the best chance of getting into work.
Within DWP, the Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16-24 who are on the Universal Credit and searching for work. As published in PQ 202513, we have expanded Youth Offer support to enable more young people on Universal Credit to see a Work Coach in a Youth Hub or to benefit from the expertise of our Youth Employability Coaches.
By extending the Youth Offer to other Universal Credit claimants we are helping more young people not in education, employment or training who claim Universal Credit to access this essential support. Some Youth Hubs will also offer a drop-in facility where these young people who do not have a UC claim will be able to access support.
Lastly, we recognise that ensuring young people have the most appropriate support, education or training to enable them to enter sustained employment and progress in their careers requires a cross-government approach. In partnership with DfE and DCMS, we have established a new cross Government Forum on Youth Skills for Life and Work. The forum provides an opportunity for departments to identify and act on opportunities to work closer together on crosscutting youth issues and to equip young people with the skills for life and work that they will need to fulfil their potential and drive growth for the country.
We are fully committed to the delivery of Youth Hubs, which are an integral part of our wider DWP Youth Offer. Youth Hubs bring together Work Coach employment support and place-based services from local partnerships to help young people into work.
The Spring Budget 2023 committed to the extension of the Youth Offer until 2028, with funding beyond 2024/2025 to be determined by a future spending review. We published Youth Hub funding details in PQ 190112. Alongside this, we recently expanded eligibility for the Youth Offer allowing more young people on Universal Credit to see a Work Coach in a Youth Hub, receive intensive support at the start of their claim or to benefit from the expertise of our Youth Employability Coaches.
The Youth Offer, including Youth Hubs, is subject to a Process Evaluation. Early emerging findings are being shared internally and will inform any improvements or future changes to the Youth Offer policy. The process evaluation will continue until Spring 2024. We aim to publish the findings once complete.
All Employment Data Lab evaluations are published on gov.uk and so are available to all employment support providers and the public. There are currently no further plans to disseminate best practice.
There are no current plans to assess the potential impact of the Employment Data Lab service on the effectiveness of either jobcentres or existing employment services.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for getting people into work and making work pay.
A range of employment support is available to non-claimants, including Access to Work grants; Disability Confident, Intensive Personalised Employment Support; Work and Health Programme Pioneer; and the online information service – Support with Employee Health and Disability. The Government also works in partnership with health systems to deliver support including Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, and the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, delivered in health settings.
In addition, non-claimants are able to attend DWP jobs fairs, which connect jobseekers with employers. The enhanced digital Mid-life MOT is also open to everybody and easy to access.
The forecast spend for 2023/24 can be found in the 2023 Spring Budget publication.
Final spend for the year on measures funded at the Spring Statement will be reported in the Annual Report and Accounts.
The funding for 2023/24 and 2024/25 was confirmed at Spring Budget 2023. Spending beyond 2024/25 is subject to the outcomes of the next Spending Review. As such we have not made an estimate of how much and what proportion of the funding announced to increase Workforce Participation at the Spring Statement will be spent by the end of 2027/28.
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) are set up in response to local job vacancies and labour-market demand. As such, SWAPs are generally marketed to employers through the Jobcentre Plus network. DWP’s National Employer and Partnership Team also regularly runs employer campaigns focused on different sectors to publicise SWAPs and the other support available to companies looking to recruit.
DWP also works directly with sector stakeholders to develop SWAP opportunities, such as the pilot launched in September, developed alongside UK Hospitality, to help potential employees gain a Hospitality Skills Passport. More widely, there is a guide to SWAPs on GOV.UK for employers, at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sector-based-work-academies-employer-guide.
We confirm that the 2023/24 for the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) budget has already been approved.
The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.
Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.
The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.
Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.
The average number of benefit claimants per Work Coach varies across our locations. In December 2019, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 112 claimants. Whereas, in September 2023, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 119 claimants.
The average number of benefit claimants per Work Coach varies across our locations. In December 2019, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 112 claimants. Whereas, in September 2023, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 119 claimants.
The Department for Work and Pensions engages with individual employers and representative bodies regularly in the development and promotion of its schemes. A summary of the help available for recruiters is published on Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), which includes information about the Work Trials Scheme. Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available.
The Department has also developed a range of leaflets, guides and videos to share with employers including the Jobcentre Plus support for employers quick guides, which include information on the Work Trials Scheme.
The total underspend Office of Nuclear Regulation reported for 2022-23 was £4.0m.
For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Of the buildings where DWP has direct responsibility, two were found to have RAAC. One is being remedied but is currently unoccupied, one is being monitored annually as per the Institute of Structural Engineers guidance.
DWP also occupies several hundred buildings where it is the minor occupier or does not have responsibility for the fabric of the building however, we have pro-actively contacted these landlords.
One of these buildings has RAAC which is the landlord’s responsibility, and this is being managed by monitoring as per structural engineers’ guidance. The RAAC does not affect the part of the building that DWP occupies.
Universal Support is in the early stages of development. We have a commitment to transparency and are considering the information that will be published on Universal Support services.
The starting salary for an Executive Officer Work Coach would vary dependant on the location of their place of work. DWP has different pay scales that apply in different locations or pay zones.
For employees based within DWP’s National pay zone, the starting salary of an Executive officer Work Coach in December 2020 was £27,565, per annum full time equivalent.
For employees based within DWP’s Outer London pay zone, the starting salary of an Executive officer Work Coach in December 2020 was £29,285, per annum full time equivalent.
For employees based within DWP’s Inner London pay zone, the starting salary of an Executive officer Work Coach in December 2020 was £31,061, per annum full time equivalent.
New entrant work coaches into DWP undergo learning which starts with 59 hours of induction, onboarding and operational fundamental learning before moving into their official work coach specific technical learning.
In September 2020 the specific technical learning programme compromised 134 hours and 15 minutes of classroom learning, including Mental Health training. We provided an additional 112 hours and 30 minutes of supported consolidation of the learning in a live environment. In total this was 246 hours and 45 minutes.
New entrant work coaches into DWP undergo learning which starts with 59 hours of induction, onboarding and operational fundamental learning before moving into their official work coach specific technical learning.
Following transformation of our learning approach, the specific technical learning programme now compromises 94 hours and 15 minutes of classroom learning and includes 6 hours 45 minutes of Mental Health training. We provide an additional 45 hours of supported consolidation of the learning in a live environment. In total this is 139 hours and 15 minutes.
As part of our learning transformation, the initial technical learning programme is followed by bespoke individual learning paths. In partnership with their line manager an individual will continue to grow their skills and confidence through a variety of opportunities including self-serve and facilitator led refresher learning sessions.
The requirements any claimant is asked to meet will be clearly set out in their Claimant Commitment. All requirements are set in discussion with the claimant, tailored to their capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable.
For lead carers of children, individual circumstances are taken into account when tailoring work-related activity in the claimant commitment. This includes the age of the child, availability of childcare, any health conditions and travel time to and from work.
A part time carer on Universal Credit can receive individualised employment support through their Jobcentre Plus (JCP) work coach who can tailor work related requirements, such as searching for work, to fit their caring responsibilities.
For disabled claimants or claimants with health conditions who are required to look for and/or prepare for work, work coaches must consider the impact of the claimant’s health condition or disability and can limit the number of hours the claimant is required to be available for work, search for work and undertake other work-related requirements. Work coaches can also tailor type and location of work.
DWP records and archives covering the duration of training for a work coach are not held for 2015.
The requested information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Maintaining an effective Work Coach diary is a joint responsibility between a team leader and the Work Coach, and is reached collaboratively through regular discussion and agreement.
The duration of each appointment is determined by the appointment type, and the length of time the appointment is expected to take is recorded by our diary management tool. We do not hold information on the actual duration of an appointment, for example, whether the appointment was longer or shorter than the allocated time.
The Department explores Jobcentre operational views on site accessibility when reviewing the suitability of its existing Jobcentre sites in the context of considering network improvements. Good public transport links and accessibility also form part of our criteria when seeking new Jobcentre sites.
The Department is committed to reducing its Jobcentre estate back to pre-pandemic levels. Following any decision to close a temporary Jobcentre, local Jobcentre managers work closely with their teams to ensure that the workload is distributed appropriately, and our Work Coach caseloads continue to remain manageable.
The size of a Work Coach caseload will vary as it is dependent on several factors, including the level of customer support required, the needs of the local labour market and the experience and working pattern of each Work Coach.
The Department is committed to reducing its Jobcentre estate back to pre-pandemic levels by decommissioning Temporary Jobcentres (or the additional space in established Jobcentres) in a phased approach, where the increased capacity is no longer needed.
Phase 4 of this decommissioning was announced in a Written Statement on Wednesday 13 September. Subsequent phases of decommissioning will continue to follow throughout 2023 and 2024, including Temporary Jobcentres in the North West.
MPs will be contacted when a decision regarding the Jobcentre estate is made that could affect their constituents.
All Work Coaches deployed to a Temporary Jobcentre will return to an established local Jobcentre and there will be no reduction in the number of Work Coaches supporting customers as a result of the decommissioning of temporary sites.
The Department is committed to reducing its Jobcentre estate back to pre-pandemic levels by decommissioning Temporary Jobcentres (or the additional space in established Jobcentres) in a phased approach, where the increased capacity is no longer needed.
Phase 4 of this decommissioning was announced in a Written Statement on Wednesday 13 September. Subsequent phases of decommissioning will continue to follow throughout 2023 and 2024, including Temporary Jobcentres in the North West.
MPs will be contacted when a decision regarding the Jobcentre estate is made that could affect their constituents.
All Work Coaches deployed to a Temporary Jobcentre will return to an established local Jobcentre and there will be no reduction in the number of Work Coaches supporting customers as a result of the decommissioning of temporary sites.
We continually review our resourcing position and recruitment plans on a quarterly basis.
The number of work coaches being recruited through these plans is based on the absorption capacity into the business, ensuring recruits are effectively trained and supported through consolidation.
The number of work coaches being recruited is based on the absorption capacity into the business, ensuring recruits are effectively trained and supported through consolidation.
Yes, we are recruiting and training more work coaches.
We have no plans to undertake further research on sanctions.
Region | Total Work Coaches |
Central Area | 2,870 |
London and Essex Area | 2,910 |
North East Area | 1,060 |
North West and North Central Area | 2,670 |
Scotland Area | 1,210 |
Southern Area | 2,680 |
Wales Area | 670 |
Other | 60 |
Total | 14,130 |
Nation | Total Work Coaches |
England | 12,190 |
Scotland | 1,210 |
Wales | 670 |
Other | 60 |
Total | 14,130 |
Source: DWP’s internal Activity Based Model (ABM)
Notes: |
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There are currently no plans to undertake further research.
The Claimant Commitment is agreed between the claimant and the Work Coach, and it is based on the claimant’s particular circumstances.
People are only sanctioned when they fail, without good reason, to meet the requirements set out in their Claimant Commitment.
Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview, as agreed in the Claimant Commitment, accounted for 98.5% of adverse decisions made between August 2021 and October 2022.
Monthly Universal Credit (full service) sanction rate statistics are published every three months. The latest statistics are available by age, from April 2019 to November 2022, on Stat-Xplore.
Total percentage of staff who took a leave of absence for reasons of mental ill health between 01/05/22 and 11/04/23 is 8.1%
Gender | Employees Absent |
Female | 5.5% |
Male | 2.6% |
Total | 8.1% |
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Ageband | Employees Absent |
16-24 | 0.3% |
25-29 | 0.9% |
30-34 | 0.8% |
35-39 | 0.9% |
40-44 | 0.9% |
45-49 | 0.9% |
50-54 | 1.2% |
55-59 | 1.3% |
60-64 | 0.8% |
65+ | 0.2% |
Grand Total | 8.1% |
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UK Region | Employees Absent |
EAST MIDLANDS | 0.4% |
EAST OF ENGLAND | 0.4% |
LONDON | 0.8% |
NORTH EAST | 0.9% |
NORTH WEST | 1.5% |
NORTHERN IRELAND | 0.0% |
SCOTLAND | 0.8% |
SOUTH EAST | 0.6% |
SOUTH WEST | 0.5% |
WALES | 0.6% |
WEST MIDLANDS | 0.7% |
YORKSHIRE & THE HUMBER | 0.8% |
Grand Total | 8.1% |
Absence categories used
As part of the Government's trailblazer deeper devolution deal with West Midlands Combined Authority, the Department of Work and Pensions has committed to strengthened partnership working with new joint governance arrangements.
We have also committed to work together on the design of future contracted employment provision, including co-design and a delegated delivery model, aligned with the Combined Authority’s geographical footprint.
Full details of the West Midlands Combined Authority deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The trailblazer deals for Greater Manchester and West Midlands were developed alongside the combined authorities to help address local priorities, resulting in partly bespoke offers to each combined authority alongside joint commitments to both, aligned to the priorities of each area.
Full details of the WMCA deal can be found here: West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Department for Work and Pensions has agreed a deepened devolution deal with West Midlands Combined Authority and full details of the deal can be found here:
West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The details of any data sharing requirements of labour market and skills programmes in the Trailblazer deals will be determined throughout the design process and will follow the usual processes.
The Trailblazer deals do not set out a specific role for the National Audit Office in monitoring the employment support programmes.
There are 40,674 staff over the age of 50, this represents 47.5% of the total workforce.
The Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions was asked to lead work across Government to look in detail at the issue of participation in the labour market. As part of this work, the Department reviewed data to better understand the reasons behind economic inactivity. This included looking at students.
We have interpreted your question as being about the department’s ambition to access greater data from third parties to help tackle fraud and error.
Under current legislation, Authorised Officers from the DWP are able to obtain information from specified persons and organisations (this includes: banks, credit unions, friendly societies, industrial and provident societies) about their customers to help detect benefit fraud. Authorised Officers may use the powers when it is necessary and proportionate and in accordance with relevant legislation, to prevent, detect and secure evidence of benefit fraud.
The Government will legislate, when parliamentary time allows, for additional powers to require access to data from third parties, in particular banks, to enable the department to more proactively identify potential fraud, such as where claimants might have savings above the capital limit.
The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to setting Fraud and Error targets as set out in its response to the Treasury Minutes to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty Sixth report of session 2022. This has a target implementation date of Summer 2023.
The Department has previously published evidence on the impact of Work Coach Support on Claimant outcomes including JSA Weekly Signing (2015) and the Intensive Activity Programme (2015) JSA Weekly Signing(opens in a new tab) (2015): Jobseeker’s Allowance signing trials (publishing.service.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab) Intensive Activity Programme(opens in a new tab) (2015): Intensive Activity Programme trial evaluation: evidence synthesis (publishing.service.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
There are 303 Case Managers (Advisors) in Access to Work (ATW), out of the 451 currently employed ATW colleagues.
The programme is delivered nationally, so covers all regions and colleagues are based across 5 sites:
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to PQ 142681 on 24 February 2023.
The Spring Budget focused on the key groups considered in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions review into workforce participation, including: disabled people and those with health conditions, the over-50s, parents and carers, people who are on UC and working fewer than full time hours.
The Spring Budget and Health and Disability White Paper set out a significant and wide-ranging package of measures designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives.
DWP Budget measures represent an investment of £3.5bn over 5 years to boost workforce participation.
The Employment Data Lab team consists of three analysts. There are no other ongoing costs associated with the Employment Data Lab.
The total number of colleagues employed by the department to process and support Access to Work applications is 451. A further 50 colleagues have been recruited and will join the team in March and April 2023.
By Autumn 2023, subject to complexity and the outcome of quality assurance processes.
The last published / audited figures showing the Restart position are from 21/22. |
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Budget | Forecast | Overspend |
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£m | £m | £m |
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21/22 | 333.9 | 343.8 | 9.9 |
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a) Kickstart
Grants were awarded in response to the economy's demand for the creation of additional jobs. Almost immediately after Kickstart launched, the economic situation changed significantly, lowering immediate demand for the scheme.
The Department spend on Kickstart for 21/22 was £855.9m. Surplus funding of £96.9m was returned to HMT at year end. This is in line with the normal budgeting process.
The information not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
DWP’s flexible working policies are published on its internal Intranet for its employees, managers, and trade union representatives to use. There are currently no plans to publish them externally.
The recruitment of District Progression Leads is being completed in line with the roll out of the In Work Progression offer across the country. So far, 10 districts have gone live with the In Work Progression Voluntary offer and have a District Progression Lead in place and the remaining 27 districts will go live and recruit Progression Leads by the end of March 2023.
The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation, to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.
The Department is working across government to identify and help address the causes of economic inactivity, building on the Government’s existing package of support to help people start, stay and succeed in work.
The Department has not commissioned forecasts of the number of future early retirees.
(a) 194 Temporary Jobcentre REEP (Rapid Estate Expansion Programme), 14 REEP sites are co-sited with permanent (established) Jobcentres.
(b) 639 Permanent (established) Jobcentres
Temporary Jobcentres: Regional level
Region | # |
Central & West Scotland | 4 |
East & North Scotland | 7 |
London & Essex | 41 |
North & East Midlands | 20 |
North Central | 19 |
North East | 12 |
North West | 20 |
South East | 31 |
South West | 15 |
Wales | 6 |
West Midlands | 19 |
Grand Total | 194 |
Temporary Jobcentres: District level
District | # |
Avon, Somerset & Gloucestershire | 4 |
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire | 6 |
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire | 7 |
Birmingham & Solihull | 5 |
Black Country | 6 |
Cheshire | 3 |
Cumbria & Lancashire | 5 |
Devon & Cornwall | 5 |
Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight | 6 |
Durham & Tees Valley | 4 |
East Anglia | 5 |
East London | 11 |
East Scotland | 3 |
Essex | 5 |
Greater Manchester | 11 |
Kent | 8 |
Leicestershire & Northampton | 4 |
Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland | 3 |
Mercia | 8 |
Merseyside | 6 |
Midland Shires | 8 |
North & Mid Wales | 3 |
North East Scotland | 3 |
North East Yorkshire & Humber | 3 |
North London | 6 |
Northern Scotland | 1 |
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear | 5 |
South East Wales | 2 |
South London | 12 |
South West Scotland | 2 |
South West Wales | 1 |
South Yorkshire | 4 |
Surrey & Sussex | 10 |
West London | 7 |
West Scotland | 2 |
West Yorkshire | 10 |
Grand Total | 194 |
Permanent (established) Jobcentres
Region | # |
Central & West Scotland | 40 |
East & North Scotland | 44 |
London & Essex | 63 |
North & East Midlands | 87 |
North Central | 54 |
North East | 59 |
North West | 54 |
South East | 61 |
South West | 74 |
Wales | 60 |
West Midlands | 43 |
Grand Total | 639 |
District | # |
Avon, Somerset & Gloucestershire | 23 |
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire | 13 |
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire | 14 |
Birmingham & Solihull | 13 |
Black Country | 14 |
Central Scotland | 7 |
Cheshire | 9 |
Cumbria & Lancashire | 22 |
Devon & Cornwall | 22 |
Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight | 29 |
Durham & Tees Valley | 21 |
East Anglia | 26 |
East London | 10 |
East Scotland | 22 |
Essex | 14 |
Greater Manchester | 28 |
Kent | 13 |
Leicestershire & Northampton | 14 |
Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland | 19 |
Mercia | 16 |
Merseyside | 17 |
Midland Shires | 28 |
North & Mid Wales | 21 |
North East Scotland | 10 |
North East Yorkshire & Humber | 18 |
North London | 11 |
Northern Scotland | 12 |
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear | 20 |
South East Wales | 17 |
South London | 14 |
South West Scotland | 11 |
South West Wales | 22 |
South Yorkshire | 13 |
Surrey & Sussex | 21 |
West London | 14 |
West Scotland | 22 |
West Yorkshire | 19 |
Grand Total | 639 |
The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation, to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.
The Department is working across government to identify and help address the causes of economic inactivity, building on the Government’s existing package of support to help people start, stay and succeed in work.
The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation, to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.
The Department is working across government to identify and help address the causes of economic inactivity, building on the Government’s existing package of support to help people start, stay and succeed in work.
The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation, to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.
The Department is working across government to identify and help address the causes of economic inactivity, building on the Government’s existing package of support to help people start, stay and succeed in work.
The Department does not record and then collate the timing of every work coach’s interaction with every claimant. To do so would incur disproportionate cost.
The department does not account for Job Centre expenditure as a whole. Departmental Estates and IT costs are accounted for centrally and not charged to Job Centres. To provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
The cost of Work Coaches is provided below, where available;
| £m |
2021/22 | 951.4 |
2020/21 | 689.0 |
2019/20 | 570.0 |
2018/19 | 564.3 |
2017/18 | 542.0 |
2016/17 | 542.8 |
2015/16 | 533.9 |
Data for years prior to this is not available.
The Employment Data Lab have completed and published one evaluation to date. Two more evaluations are underway, and the team are actively engaged in on-going discussions with a further eight organisations regarding participation.
The £122m funding will enable the expansion of Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies from the current 40% of England to the whole of England by Summer 2024. This joint programme by DWP, DHSC, and NHS England will see the recruitment of around an additional 700 employment advisers to support people with common mental health conditions to improve their mental health, whilst also helping them stay in, or find, work.
As the Employment Advisers programme is rolled out across England, we will be evaluating the impact on health and employment.
Evaluation of the trial of the service (across 40% of England) showed that Employment Advisers had a positive impact on mental health across all Talking Therapy client groups. Those who were out of work at entry to the service were 6 percentage points more likely to be in work at the end of treatment, compared to a matched comparison group which received IAPT support only.
As per the NAO report, the original estimated cost for Restart was £2.58bn, this has been revised to £1.68bn creating a £0.9m underspend.
The underspend is not expected to exceed £1.2bn. The original value of the contracts was £2.6bn. As explained in the accounting officer note in July 2022 and the NAO report, the lower numbers participating in the programme due to the better than anticipated labour market position means the spend is expected to be around £1.7bn – so the underspend is expected to be around £0.9bn. Payment is contingent on performance and that the Department retains options to refer more people and to extend the programme so we cannot yet confirm a final spend figure for the programme.
The department published statistics on the Restart Scheme on 15th December 2022.
The review will identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early. People with health conditions are a key focus of the review.
This review will build on the government’s existing package of support to help people with health conditions to start, stay and succeed in work.
The government is clear that increasing labour supply is a key priority.
The department is considering a wide range of factors in the review on workforce participation, we will build on the governments existing package of support to do this.
The review will identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early. Early retirees are a key focus of the review.
This review will build on the government’s existing package of support to help older workers to start, stay and succeed in work.
The Prime Minister has tasked the Secretary of State to look in detail at the issue of workforce participation.
We will be looking to identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early.
The work will focus on four cohorts: early retirees, those with a disability or health condition, unpaid carers, and students.
a) DWP are working with HMT to consider if there are potential links between pensions and economic activity.
b) DWP has worked with a range of government departments to understand the labour market impact of the furlough scheme. The available evidence on the labour impact of the furlough scheme will be reviewed where relevant to the four cohorts being focused on.
The government is clear that increasing labour supply is a key priority.
We will identify and understand the barriers preventing people from joining the workforce and/or resulting in people leaving the workforce early and will be focussing on four cohorts: early retirees, disabled people and people with health conditions, unpaid carers, and students.
How firms adapt to a changing labour market will depend on their type of business, for example, in the case of manufacturing we want more manufacturers to adopt technology that will improve productivity and stimulate growth, including robotics and automation and we have programmes that support them to do this. This includes the Made Smarter programme which has committed almost £200m in funding to large manufacturers and SMEs to develop new technology solutions and adopt existing tech, including robotics and autonomous systems.
We will work with other government departments and engage with a wide network of stakeholders, including economists, academics, charities, industry/business representatives and research organisations, to gather insight and develop new ideas to tackle the issue.
The Department is examining workforce participation and economic inactivity. This work is ongoing.
All colleagues have access to a flexi time scheme, with the exception of those in Senior Civil Service roles. Those in certain roles may also work some of their time at home as ‘hybrid workers’. In addition, eligible employees can also apply for flexible working and in compliance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, each application would be considered on its merits taking account of all the relevant circumstances. Most commonly this would be applications to work part-time or part-year hours.
DWP drew-down £1.2billion in additional funding at Supplementary Estimates in February 2021 to fund the Plan for Jobs. The Department’s budget for 2021/22, including the funding available for the Plan for Jobs in that year, was set as part of the Spending Review (SR) 2020.
Figures for the period to 12 December 2022 are not yet available.
Figures for the period to 12 December 2022 are not yet available.
The department plans to release an ad hoc publication of official statistics for the Restart Scheme today.
The independent ONS publish data on economic inactivity taken from the Labour Force Survey. The Department is examining workforce participation and economic inactivity.
The Department is examining workforce participation and economic inactivity. This work is ongoing.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has completed his annual up-rating review and announced that State Pension and benefits rates will increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the year to September 2022. This means they will increase by 10.1% from 10 April 2023. This includes the contribution-based benefits: Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance.
A full table of rates will be published in the House libraries and on gov.uk in due course.
No such assessment has been made.
As of 15 November 2022, over 163,000 Kickstart jobs had been started by young people.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting people to progress in work and welcomes Baroness McGregor-Smith’s report. We have considered her recommendations carefully and a response setting out the government’s approach to progression will be published in due course.
The department is continuing to develop its plan to publish official statistics on the Restart Scheme.
The department is continuing to develop its plan to publish official statistics on the Restart Scheme.
The department is continuing to develop its plan to publish official statistics on the Restart Scheme.
The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) service standards set out how long it should take the office to deal with complaints. These service standards are published on gov.uk. The ICE Annual Report for 2021-22 will be published shortly.
The ICE process has a number of stages. Once a referral has been accepted as a complaint, the ICE office initially considers whether, without undertaking a detailed examination of the evidence, a resolution can be brokered with the relevant department or its supplier. If resolution cannot be achieved, the case awaits allocation to an investigator who, following a review of the evidence, will first consider if settlement is appropriate. This requires the relevant department or its supplier to agree action with the complainant. Full investigation reports of detailing findings and any recommendations for redress are based on a thorough examination of case evidence. (Cases are currently brought into investigation according to the date on which the complaint was accepted.)
The office aims to resolve complaints within 8 weeks of the complaint being accepted for examination, settle complaints within 15 weeks of the complaint being allocated to an investigator and complete a full investigation within 20 weeks of the complaint being allocated to an investigator.
Details of the ICE office performance from 1 April 2022 – 31 October 2022 (YTD) are below:
Resolution:
The average clearance time in those cases that were resolved was 8.31 weeks from the point the complaint was accepted for examination.
Settlement:
The average clearance time in those cases that were settled was 6.19 weeks from the point the complaint was allocated to an Investigation Case Manager.
Investigation Reports:
The average clearance time in those cases that resulted in an ICE investigation report was 27.4 weeks from the point the complaint was allocated to an investigator.
There is no service standard for the time a complaint awaits allocation to an investigator, as allocation is dependent on multiple factors, including the volume and complexity of complaints received, as well as available investigative resource.
We have dedicated work coaches across the country providing tailored support to help people, in all circumstances, into work and to increase their hours. Staff numbers are reviewed on an ongoing basis.
The office of the Independent Case Examiner currently has a headcount of 97 (93.11 FTE) and is aiming to recruit up to 99 FTE by March 2023.
An internal recruitment campaign is underway for up to eight more investigators, which takes account of likely short-term turnover.
We understand the significance local knowledge can play in providing tailored support. Our DWP Youth Hubs provide a range of services adapted to local needs and are a starting place for young people.
Partnership working is central to the DWP Youth Offer. Through our partnership network we are engaging with a broad spectrum of providers including colleges, charities, and local authorities to develop place-based responses that support youth employment, including where appropriate, through Youth Hubs.
Our locally formed and locally led Hubs bring together partner organisations and offer skills, training, and employment provisions. We empower our DWP Work Coaches within each Hub to maintain a youth friendly environment and support our young Universal Credit claimants looking to move in to work.
As part of the DWP Youth Offer we provide intensive support during the first 13 weeks of a claim to help young people access the right opportunities for them and Youth Employability Coaches (YECs) who are helping young people overcome complex barriers to employment, as well as offering 6 weeks of in-work support once they move into work. YECs work closely alongside Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions, and partner organisations who can provide specialist advice.
There were over 160 locally lead Youth Hubs open in January 2022. As of 8 November 2022, there are over 150 open Youth Hubs. Youth Hubs and their services are based in external partner owned premises. Local DWP teams and external partners delivering Youth Hubs jointly discuss the ongoing need for hubs in particular areas and take account of a range of factors, notably the number of young Universal Credit claimants searching for employment in that local area.
We understand the significance local knowledge can play in providing tailored support. Our DWP Youth Hubs provide a range of services adapted to local needs and are a starting place for young people.
Partnership working is central to the DWP Youth Offer. Through our partnership network we are engaging with a broad spectrum of providers including colleges, charities, and local authorities to develop place-based responses that support youth employment, including where appropriate, through Youth Hubs.
Our locally formed and locally led Hubs bring together partner organisations and offer skills, training, and employment provisions. We empower our DWP Work Coaches within each Hub to maintain a youth friendly environment and support our young Universal Credit claimants looking to move in to work.
As part of the DWP Youth Offer we provide intensive support during the first 13 weeks of a claim to help young people access the right opportunities for them and Youth Employability Coaches (YECs) who are helping young people overcome complex barriers to employment, as well as offering 6 weeks of in-work support once they move into work. YECs work closely alongside Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions, and partner organisations who can provide specialist advice.
There were over 160 locally lead Youth Hubs open in January 2022. As of 8 November 2022, there are over 150 open Youth Hubs. Youth Hubs and their services are based in external partner owned premises. Local DWP teams and external partners delivering Youth Hubs jointly discuss the ongoing need for hubs in particular areas and take account of a range of factors, notably the number of young Universal Credit claimants searching for employment in that local area.
We understand the significance local knowledge can play in providing tailored support. Our DWP Youth Hubs provide a range of services adapted to local needs and are a starting place for young people.
Partnership working is central to the DWP Youth Offer. Through our partnership network we are engaging with a broad spectrum of providers including colleges, charities, and local authorities to develop place-based responses that support youth employment, including where appropriate, through Youth Hubs.
Our locally formed and locally led Hubs bring together partner organisations and offer skills, training, and employment provisions. We empower our DWP Work Coaches within each Hub to maintain a youth friendly environment and support our young Universal Credit claimants looking to move in to work.
As part of the DWP Youth Offer we provide intensive support during the first 13 weeks of a claim to help young people access the right opportunities for them and Youth Employability Coaches (YECs) who are helping young people overcome complex barriers to employment, as well as offering 6 weeks of in-work support once they move into work. YECs work closely alongside Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions, and partner organisations who can provide specialist advice.
There were over 160 locally lead Youth Hubs open in January 2022. As of 8 November 2022, there are over 150 open Youth Hubs. Youth Hubs and their services are based in external partner owned premises. Local DWP teams and external partners delivering Youth Hubs jointly discuss the ongoing need for hubs in particular areas and take account of a range of factors, notably the number of young Universal Credit claimants searching for employment in that local area.
All requirements are set following discussion with the claimant, tailored to their capability and circumstances, making them realistic and achievable. They take account of health, caring responsibilities, ongoing work or volunteering and any earnings.
It is not possible to do modelling for the claimants who have been affected by the changes to the Administrative Earnings Threshold. This is because we cannot determine in advance if a claimant does not meet their requirements.
People are only sanctioned if they fail to meet their agreed requirements without good reason.
In the quarter to June 22, 32,000 new applications were made which is a 64% increase in applications compared to December 2021 (Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to June 2022 (experimental)). The impact of the cost-of-living crisis may be influencing parents with care to apply in higher volumes as they seek more formal arrangements to receive regular child maintenance.
We recognise the increasing cost of living may impact upon the affordability of child maintenance payments and we will continue to develop referral pathways to forms of support such as mediation, financial support and debt advice.
Where a parent can pay, but chooses not to, we will continue to take robust action. Since 2012, when CMS began, we have collected and arranged 92% of all maintenance due to be paid.
The Service Delivery Framework was previously published on the 'what do they know' website in December 2021 in response to a Freedom of Information request.
The department intends to publish an updated version on the House of Commons library in the coming weeks.
Statistics on the number of individuals in receipt of Universal Credit broken down by employment status are published every three months, with the latest data available to August 2022, on Stat-Xplore. The statistics can be broken down by age, gender, conditionality group, duration on UC and geography.
The Department’s Written Statement on 20 July 2022 set out plans to gradually improve the Jobcentre estate. When the Department closes a poor quality site and relocates to better-quality accommodation it is anticipated, due to the close proximity of the better sites, that all public facing Jobcentre staff will be able to move to the new site. There is therefore no target for the redeployment of staff when an established Jobcentre closes.
If a member of staff is unable to relocate to the alternative Jobcentre location in their current job role, then every effort is made to redeploy them to another role within the Department.
Please find the data and number in relation to Work Coaches as listed below. For clarity these are Full time equivalents (FTE) and not individual staff members.
| Work Coach ABM FTE |
Oct-22 | 15,249.07 |
Oct-21 | 21,469.57 |
Oct-20 | 16,427.89 |
Oct-19 | 12,324.98 |
Oct-18 | 12,493.22 |
Oct-17 | 13,008.98 |
4453 staff left the DWP June 2022 to September 2022, of which, 1379 staff were Fixed Term Appointments (FTA).
The National Audit Office have advised us that the report on the Restart Scheme is due for publication on 2 December 2022.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Alternative Claimant Count (ACC) provides a measure of the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits, and off-flows from the ACC are available here.
Between September 2021 and February 2022 there were just under 2 million off-flows from the ACC. This represents a count of off-flows, not individual people, as it is possible to flow on / off benefit multiple times within this period.
As of 25 July, 539,200 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and 30 June 2022. This includes claimants who remained on benefits after starting work.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Where childcare is delivered during an assessment period, the cost paid for that childcare will be reimbursed at the end of the assessment period in which it is delivered. In order to be reimbursed, childcare costs can be reported to DWP up to the end of the assessment period following the assessment period in which they were paid.
The exact waiting time for reimbursement, therefore, depends on how far in advance a claimant pays their childcare provider and how soon the claimant reports those costs to DWP.
UC claimants who need help with upfront childcare costs to enter employment or significantly increase their working hours can apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund (FSF). This is non-repayable and will pay their initial childcare costs directly to the provider up to the first salary received.
No assessment has been made.
The Department is aware that for some UC claimants' childcare costs presents challenges to entering employment. To support parents to become financially resilient by moving into work and progressing in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month regardless of the number of hours they work, compared to 70% in Tax Credits. This is up to the maximum amount of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. For families with two children, this could be worth over £13,000 a year.
This support is available to all lone parents and couples, regardless of the number of hours they work. For couples, both parents need to be in paid work to be eligible unless one of the allowable exceptions is met.
The UC childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer in England and there are similar funded early learning offers in devolved nations. The Free Childcare offer provides 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3- and 4-year old's and disadvantaged 2-year old's, doubling for working parents of 3 and 4 year old's to 30 hours a week.
The UC childcare element can be used to top up a claimant's eligible free childcare hours if more hours are worked and childcare required. This offer means that for some claimants' childcare costs should not present any barriers to entering work.
UC claimants who need help with upfront childcare costs to enter employment or significantly increase their working hours can apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund (FSF). This is non-repayable and will pay their initial childcare costs directly to the provider up to the first salary received.
Through a staged rollout from April 2022 onwards, 2.1m low paid Universal Credit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher paid work. This will be provided by work coaches and focus on career progression advice, such as considering skills gaps, identifying training opportunities, or looking for opportunities for the claimant to progress in their current role or in a new role. Jobcentres will be supported in this new role by a network of 37 Progression Champions across Great Britain who will spearhead the scheme. They will work with partners to address local barriers that limit progression, such as transport and childcare.
The Way to Work campaign was launched on 26 January 2022 so there was no Way to Work campaign relating to the periods in question.
Way to Work was aimed at all job-ready claimants on Universal Credit and New Style Jobseekers Allowance in England, Scotland, and Wales.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Alternative Claimant Count (ACC) provides a measure of the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits. The number of off-flows from the ACC, and for the Universal Credit Searching for Work conditionality group component of the ACC, are available here.
Between January 2022 and May 2022 there were 1.36 million off-flows from this group. This represents a count of off-flows, not individual people, as it is possible to flow in and out of this group multiple times within this period.
Child maintenance payments made by the non-resident parent are designed to be fair and affordable whilst ensuring they contribute a significant amount of their income to support any children they no longer live with.
A banding system ensures that the very lowest earners pay a flat rate of £7 per week, and those with no income pay nothing. Those that can afford to make a bigger contribution do so at a rate that reflects what they earn.
The Child Maintenance Service actively pursues all outstanding child maintenance using a variety of enforcement options including deductions from earnings, deductions from benefits and identifying and securing cash balances and assets through its enforcement actions. If non compliance persists then sanctions including commitment to prison or the disqualification of a driving licence and removal of passport is considered.
The Child Maintenance Service has focussed efforts to influence and enforce payment where a paying parent refuses to pay but has an ability to pay. The department has reduced its unpaid debt through the collect and pay service to an all time low of 8.3% of the total liabilities raised as at March 2022 compared to 9.9% in March 2020.
(Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to March 2022, National tables: Child Maintenance Service statistics, date to March 2022 table six).
Link attached showing the unpaid child maintenance through Collect and Pay from March 2015 to March 22 for your convenience.
We aim to publish our response to the In-work Progression Commission's report in due course.
This Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, no matter their background, has the opportunity to start, stay in and progress in work. That is why we are extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes to help them to increase their earnings and move into better paid quality jobs.
Through a staged roll-out which started in April 2022, around 2.1m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid or better quality work. This support is being provided by Work Coaches and focuses on removing barriers to progression and providing advice, such as considering skills gaps and identifying training, or looking for progression opportunities for individuals in their current role or supporting them into a new role. Jobcentres will be supported in this new role by a new network of 37 Progression Champions across Great Britain who will spearhead the scheme. Progression Champions will work with key partners, including local government, employers, and skills providers to identify and develop local progression opportunities. They will also work with partners to address local barriers that limit progression such as childcare and transport.
Our Jobcentre teams are committed to delivering a quality service to ensure all claimants receive the best possible support to meet their individual circumstances. Our service delivery framework sets out the service expectations for our Jobcentre network and the requirements for how they deliver their services. The framework doesn't include an assessment of the number of people who move into work. Line managers coach their teams to ensure Work Coaches are skilled and empowered to manage their caseloads and are focussed on helping claimants move into or closer to work.
The Department uses internal Universal Credit (UC) Management Information and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Real Time Information data, to assess the number of people entering work.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
I refer the honourable Member to the answer given to PQ15249
I refer the honourable Member to the answer given to PQ15249
I refer the honourable Member to the answer given to PQ15249
The 2021-22 ARA will be published on the 7 July. This year’s reported expenditure will include a breakdown of our Employment programmes expenditure.
The 2021-22 ARA will be published on the 7 July. This year’s reported expenditure will include a breakdown of our Employment programmes expenditure.
Way to Work is a campaign to move 500,000 job-ready Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance claimants into work by the end of June 2022, it is not a new policy and we have not produced specific guidance in relation to Way to Work. The focus is to support people into work swiftly by using the strength of the jobs market and we are working closely with employers to help claimants into jobs quicker, as well as strengthening our core support for jobseekers.
Universal Credit guidance is deposited in the House of Commons library twice a year, the latest published guidance was deposited on 26 April 2022 and can be found here.
Employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are receiving benefits.
Through Universal Credit, eligible parents can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to the maximum amount of £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children each month, regardless of the number of hours they work. For those who need extra financial support for their first set of childcare costs when moving in to work, or when they are significantly increasing their work hours, they can apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund. Importantly, the UC childcare element can be used to top up a claimant’s eligible 15 or 30 hours of free childcare if further childcare is required to support a working parent.
We also have products in place to ensure Work Coaches are able to explain the free childcare offer to parents. Work coaches signpost to the Childcare Choices website for more information about the wider Government childcare offers available.
Through Universal Credit, eligible parents can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to the maximum amount of £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children each month, regardless of the number of hours they work. For those who need extra financial support for their first set of childcare costs when moving in to work, or when they are significantly increasing their work hours, they can apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund. Importantly, the UC childcare element can be used to top up a claimant’s eligible 15 or 30 hours of free childcare if further childcare is required to support a working parent.
We also have products in place to ensure Work Coaches are able to explain the free childcare offer to parents. Work coaches signpost to the Childcare Choices website for more information about the wider Government childcare offers available.
The Universal Credit journal is not intended to collect data on claimant’s skills, levels and needs. It is a service used by claimants and staff to communicate and is one of several channels for claimants to notify of changes, ask for help or update the work coach on job search activities.
The information requested is not readily available. Jobcentre Plus works in partnership with local training providers to ensure/facilitate delivery of essential communication skills, numeracy skills, digital literacy skills and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training to unemployed benefit claimants in England, Scotland and Wales. Wider adult education and skills policy is the responsibility of the Department for Education in England and devolved to the Scottish and Welsh Governments in Scotland and Wales.
The information requested is not readily available. Jobcentre Plus works in partnership with local training providers to ensure/facilitate delivery of essential communication skills, numeracy skills, digital literacy skills and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training to unemployed benefit claimants in England, Scotland and Wales. Wider adult education and skills policy is the responsibility of the Department for Education in England and devolved to the Scottish and Welsh Governments in Scotland and Wales.
The information requested is not readily available. Jobcentre Plus works in partnership with local training providers to ensure/facilitate delivery of essential communication skills, numeracy skills, digital literacy skills and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training to unemployed benefit claimants in England, Scotland and Wales. Wider adult education and skills policy is the responsibility of the Department for Education in England and devolved to the Scottish and Welsh Governments in Scotland and Wales.
In the financial year 2020-21, DWP obtained £25m ring-fenced funding for the Kickstart Scheme. None of the £25m was subsequently returned to HM Treasury.
DWP’s 2021-22 financial accounts are currently being audited, so we are unable to provide this information.
In the financial year 2020-21, DWP obtained £25m ring-fenced funding for the Kickstart Scheme. None of the £25m was subsequently returned to HM Treasury.
DWP’s 2021-22 financial accounts are currently being audited, so we are unable to provide this information.
The Way to Work campaign is scheduled to conclude at the end of June, after which, we aim to publish details of the movements into work achieved during the campaign.
The data we are using to measure performance through Way to Work is experimental and was developed to support delivery. We will use the insights of this data, as well as wider learning from the preparation, delivery and outcomes of the campaign to inform ongoing policy development at the Department. As this process is ongoing, we have no plans to publish any modelling prepared for Way to Work.
This Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, no matter their background, has the opportunity to start, stay and progress in work. We aim to publish our response to the In-work Progression Commission's report as soon as possible, where we will set out our new approach to supporting people on low pay and helping them to progress in work.
The requested information is provided in the attached methodology document ‘Universal Credit Full-Service employment impact evaluation’.
Universal Credit statistics, with respect to conditionality regimes and flows, are still under development, as detailed in section 4 of the Department’s statistical work programme. The production of these statistics is dependent on further data development. Progress on these developments will be provided through the Universal Credit Statistics bulletin and the Statistical Work Programme and then pre-announced in the statistics release calendar.
The Information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost because the required information is not all readily available to analysts in a format that would enable them to undertake the analysis and quality assure the figures, to answer this PQ in the timescales.
The performance of Universal Credit (UC) continues to be monitored as we proceed to complete the move to Universal Credit. As implementation of UC is not yet complete, it is not possible to carry out a full assessment of the 2018 Business Case.
Since first being introduced in 2013, Universal Credit (UC) has streamlined and simplified the benefits system to better support those in work on low incomes, as well as those who are unemployed or who cannot work. By improving work incentives and support, Universal Credit helped deliver the highest ever level of employment seen in this country just before COVID hit. A dynamic benefit that reflects people’s needs from month to month, Universal Credit successfully supported millions of people and processed a ten-fold surge in claims during the pandemic, when legacy systems would have collapsed.
There are no plans to make an assessment of how long it would take to implement an uplift to Universal Credit and Legacy Benefits.
The government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year. This means that millions of the most vulnerable households will get £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.
This additional support means that eight million households on means-tested benefits will get £650 paid directly into their bank accounts in two lump sums - one in July, the other this autumn. There will also be separate one-off payments of £300 to pensioner households and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits.
To support people who need additional help later in the year, the Government is providing, from October, an extra £500 million of funding. In England, £421m will be used to extend the Household Support Fund. The Devolved Administrations will receive £79m. This is in addition to the £1bn already provided for this support.
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ4709 for the number of movements into work during the Way to Work campaign as of 15 May.
On the 26 January 2022, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions launched ‘Way to Work’, a campaign across Great Britain to help 500,000 people into employment by the end of June 2022.
We are building on the infrastructure established through our Kickstart Scheme to work more closely with employers, to bring them into Jobcentres and move claimants into work more quickly. We are providing more time for new claimants with their Work Coach and delivering a renewed focus on moving claimants into work through more rigorously applying agreements made in claimant commitments. We are also using data to ensure that we are flexible and adaptable in our delivery. This means that we are collecting data that is relevant, effective and that allows us to monitor performance in a timely way so as to assess what is working.
Our ambition for 500,000 movements into work was developed in recognition of the 1.2 million vacancies in the wider economy (now 1.3 million vacancies), as well as the 1.6 million people searching for work within the Universal Credit caseload. It was based on historical performance in previous years over the same period covered by the Way to Work campaign (February to June) and included modelling based on enhanced delivery once Way to Work improvements have been applied.
The National Audit Office (NAO) report on the Kickstart Scheme was published in November 2021. This report contains details on spend as of the end of September 2021. You can access the NAO report here.
Information relating to Kickstart grants will be published by the Cabinet Office on the Government website in due course, as is standard practice for all Government general grants. This can be viewed here. To note, this information is normally published approximately a year after the financial year end and includes grant value and recipients.
The Customer Satisfaction Measure (CSM) results are not published. Although DWP has not undertaken to publish the CSM results, it retains the right to do so in the future.
The purpose of the CSM is to give DWP independent evidence, at national and contract level, regarding customer satisfaction, which can be used to inform:
The results of the first quarterly survey, and future surveys, will form a key part of Restart Scheme providers’ monthly discussions with their DWP performance managers.
The information requested is not readily available. Jobcentre Plus works in partnership with local training providers to ensure/facilitate delivery of essential communication skills, numeracy skills, digital literacy skills and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training to unemployed benefit claimants in England, Scotland and Wales. Wider adult education and skills policy is the responsibility of the Department for Education in England and devolved to the Scottish and Welsh Governments in Scotland and Wales.
The Information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost because the required information is not all readily available to analysts in a format that would enable them to undertake the analysis and quality assure the figures, to answer this PQ in the timescales.
The eligibility criteria for the Restart Scheme is published in the Restart Scheme Provider Guidance and is available via the following link, in paragraph 1.28.
As of 8 May 2022, over 162,600 Kickstart jobs had been started by young people. We are delighted that the Kickstart Scheme has provided opportunities for so many young people to gain experience in the workplace that will improve their chances of progressing to find long-term sustainable work.
In the financial year 2021-22, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was provided with £1,617.5m new funding specifically to deliver Kickstart. As this funding was ringfenced, any underspend had to be returned to HMT, as per the normal budgeting process. At Supplementary Estimates, DWP handed back £664.7m of this funding, with any balance on the residual £952.8m funding also due to be returned to HMT at year end.
The Value of the Contracts for Restart (£2.5billion) is detailed on Contracts Finder. This covers the three-year referral period and service delivery. A review of the Restart Programme is being undertaken following the first full year of delivery. Any changes will be published on Contracts Finder in Autumn 2022.
The following Prime organisations were awarded Contracts to deliver the Restart Scheme.
G4S Facilities Management (UK) Ltd. |
MAXIMUS UK Services Limited |
Reed in Partnership |
Serco Group |
Jobs 22 Ltd |
Ingeus UK Ltd |
Fedcap Employment Limited |
Seetec Pluss Ltd |
The Restart contracts are accessible on Contracts Finder using the following link Restart Scheme - Contracts Finder. In relation to funding, under the Governments Transparency agenda, all spend data over £25,000 is published and can be found at GOV.UK. Spend is updated on a quarterly basis with the latest update published in March 2022.
The Value of the Contracts for Restart (£2.5billion) is detailed on Contracts Finder. This covers the three-year referral period and service delivery. A review of the Restart Programme is being undertaken following the first full year of delivery. Any changes will be published on Contracts Finder in Autumn 2022.
The following Prime organisations were awarded Contracts to deliver the Restart Scheme.
G4S Facilities Management (UK) Ltd. |
MAXIMUS UK Services Limited |
Reed in Partnership |
Serco Group |
Jobs 22 Ltd |
Ingeus UK Ltd |
Fedcap Employment Limited |
Seetec Pluss Ltd |
The Restart contracts are accessible on Contracts Finder using the following link Restart Scheme - Contracts Finder. In relation to funding, under the Governments Transparency agenda, all spend data over £25,000 is published and can be found at GOV.UK. Spend is updated on a quarterly basis with the latest update published in March 2022.
Details of the required Minimum Performance Expectation and Customer Service Standards are published within Schedule 2 of the contract and are available to view on Contracts Finder Restart Scheme - Contracts Finder.
In addition, details of Performance Management can be found in Chapter 14 of the Restart Provider Guidance.
DWP EO fixed-term colleagues across all Service Delivery areas were invited to apply for permanence at their current grade via ring-fenced internal district campaigns which did not include a requirement for interviews.
A full equality impact assessment of the approach was completed in advance of the campaigns commencing. It was concluded that, with mitigations in place, to reduce any negative impact, colleagues would not be disproportionately impacted because of their protected characteristics.
The original estimate of the average cost per participant on the Restart Scheme is approximately £2,000.
The National Audit Office is independent of government and carries out reviews at the discretion of the Comptroller and Auditor General. They have started a review of the Restart Scheme which they have told us they intend to publish in the autumn. Details of this are available on the National Audit Office website.
The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart scheme throughout its implementation and will continue to evaluate the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month Kickstart jobs. This will include an estimate of the young people that remained employed following the conclusion of the six-month Kickstart job (either with their Kickstart employer or moving into a job with a different employer), as well as the number of young people no longer in employment upon leaving a Kickstart role. We aim to publish the findings of the evaluation once complete.
The Restart Scheme began in July 2021, providing up to 12 months of support to help people who have been unemployed for more than nine months, into sustained employment.
The tables below show the following data on the Restart Scheme for up to and including 30 April 2022:
Data is not currently available by ethnicity, disability, and highest education level or by constituency.
Table 1 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Contract Package Area (CPA)
CPA | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
1a West Central | 20,825 | 1,425 | 19,400 |
1b East Central | 18,345 | 1,605 | 16,740 |
2a North East and Humberside | 16,500 | 1,405 | 15,095 |
2b South and West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 24,275 | 2,095 | 22,180 |
3a North West | 15,070 | 600 | 14,470 |
3b Greater Manchester | 14,650 | 770 | 13,875 |
4a South West | 14,630 | 880 | 13,755 |
4b South Central | 14,665 | 985 | 13,675 |
5a Central and West London | 30,350 | 1,585 | 28,765 |
5b South and East London | 19,635 | 1,540 | 18,095 |
5c Home Counties | 28,265 | 2,505 | 25,760 |
6 Wales | 9,575 | 785 | 8,790 |
National | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Table 2 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Sex
Sex | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
Female | 92,530 | 5,965 | 86,570 |
Male | 134,235 | 10,210 | 124,020 |
Unknown | 20 | 5 | 15 |
Total | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Table 3 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Age
Age | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
18 to 24 | 12,780 | 665 | 12,115 |
25 to 49 | 148,080 | 10,840 | 137,245 |
Over 49 | 65,485 | 4,665 | 60,820 |
Unknown | 445 | 15 | 430 |
Total | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Data Source: Provider Referrals and Payment System (PRaP) and DWP administrative datasets.
A breakdown of the CPAs can be found in the following link.
Restart Scheme: Contract Package Areas - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
All values rounded to nearest 5 - total numbers may not sum perfectly due to rounding.
The management information above has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with Official Statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency.
There are some unknown values (less than 1%) recorded in the system for both gender and age. Some are recorded as such while others are due to a mismatch between Provider Referrals, Payment System, and DWP administrative datasets.
The numbers of leavers and caseload depends on accurate recording of the end date and so there maybe inaccuracy in these numbers.
The Restart Scheme began in July 2021, providing up to 12 months of support to help people who have been unemployed for more than nine months, into sustained employment.
The tables below show the following data on the Restart Scheme for up to and including 30 April 2022:
Data is not currently available by ethnicity, disability, and highest education level or by constituency.
Table 1 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Contract Package Area (CPA)
CPA | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
1a West Central | 20,825 | 1,425 | 19,400 |
1b East Central | 18,345 | 1,605 | 16,740 |
2a North East and Humberside | 16,500 | 1,405 | 15,095 |
2b South and West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 24,275 | 2,095 | 22,180 |
3a North West | 15,070 | 600 | 14,470 |
3b Greater Manchester | 14,650 | 770 | 13,875 |
4a South West | 14,630 | 880 | 13,755 |
4b South Central | 14,665 | 985 | 13,675 |
5a Central and West London | 30,350 | 1,585 | 28,765 |
5b South and East London | 19,635 | 1,540 | 18,095 |
5c Home Counties | 28,265 | 2,505 | 25,760 |
6 Wales | 9,575 | 785 | 8,790 |
National | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Table 2 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Sex
Sex | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
Female | 92,530 | 5,965 | 86,570 |
Male | 134,235 | 10,210 | 124,020 |
Unknown | 20 | 5 | 15 |
Total | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Table 3 – Starts, leavers, and caseload by Age
Age | Starts | Leavers | Caseload |
18 to 24 | 12,780 | 665 | 12,115 |
25 to 49 | 148,080 | 10,840 | 137,245 |
Over 49 | 65,485 | 4,665 | 60,820 |
Unknown | 445 | 15 | 430 |
Total | 226,785 | 16,180 | 210,605 |
Data Source: Provider Referrals and Payment System (PRaP) and DWP administrative datasets.
A breakdown of the CPAs can be found in the following link.
Restart Scheme: Contract Package Areas - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
All values rounded to nearest 5 - total numbers may not sum perfectly due to rounding.
The management information above has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with Official Statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency.
There are some unknown values (less than 1%) recorded in the system for both gender and age. Some are recorded as such while others are due to a mismatch between Provider Referrals, Payment System, and DWP administrative datasets.
The numbers of leavers and caseload depends on accurate recording of the end date and so there maybe inaccuracy in these numbers.
Please see the attached spreadsheet for details of the permanent and temporary DWP sites.
Sector-Based Work Academies were first launched in August 2011 in England and January 2012 in Scotland. Regular statistical releases on Sector-Based Work Academies, covering participation by those on legacy unemployment benefits, began in 2011 and ended in 2017. These statistics can be found here.
The scheme was relaunched as the Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) in July 2020 as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs. Data for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22 shows that as of 27th March 2022, there was a total of 149,980 starts to a SWAP. The breakdown of these starts by financial year is displayed in the following table:
Table 1: SWAP starts
Starts FY 2020/21 | Starts FY 2021/22 – to 27th March | Total Starts | |
Total SWAP Starts | 64,500 | 85,480 | 149,980 |
Note on above: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10; components may not sum due to rounding. These figures reflect the number of starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS).
I refer the Honourable Member to DEP2021-0996 for a breakdown of Kickstart jobs by each parliamentary constituency.
Sector-based work academies were first launched in August 2011 in England and January 2012 in Scotland. Regular statistical releases on sector-based work academies, covering participation by those on legacy unemployment benefits, began in 2011 and ended in 2017. These statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employment-schemes-work-experience-sector-based-work-academy-and-skills-conditionality-starts-to-november-2017
The scheme was relaunched as ‘SWAP’ in July 2020 as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs. Data for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22 shows that as of 2nd January 2022, there was a total of 127,360 starts to a Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP). The breakdown of these starts by nation and region is displayed in the following tables:
Table 1: SWAP starts by nation
Nation | Starts FY 2020/21 | Starts FY 2021/22 | Total Starts |
England | 58,310 | 56,760 | 115,070 |
Scotland | 6,120 | 5,750 | 11,880 |
Unknown | 60 | 350 | 410 |
Total | 64,500 | 62,860 | 127,360 |
Table 2: SWAP starts by region
Region | Starts FY 2020/21 | Starts FY 2021/22 | Total Starts |
West Midlands | 5,000 | 4,960 | 9,960 |
Central, East & North Scotland | 4,340 | 3,990 | 8,330 |
South & West Scotland | 1,780 | 1,770 | 3,550 |
London & Essex | 12,950 | 15,380 | 28,340 |
North & East Midlands | 7,800 | 7,120 | 14,920 |
North Central | 6,960 | 7,060 | 14,020 |
North East | 5,550 | 4,570 | 10,110 |
North West | 5,340 | 4,550 | 9,890 |
South East | 8,200 | 8,190 | 16,390 |
South West | 6,510 | 4,940 | 11,450 |
Unknown | 60 | 350 | 410 |
Total | 64,500 | 62,860 | 127,360 |
Note on above: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10; components may not sum due to rounding. These figures reflect the number of starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS).
The total Staff in Post (SIP) for all Work Coach activity has been provided broken down by district. As of January 2022, the total number of Work Coaches in our Jobcentres is 27,049 SIP. It is not possible to give an exact number for each Jobcentre because Work Coaches work across whole of their district and sometimes beyond.
The standard DWP definition of Work Coach activity includes Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) activity. Also included here are a number of staff carrying out related activities including those in temporary Work Coach Team Leader roles.
JCP District | SIP |
Avon Somerset and Gloucestershire | 836 |
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 654 |
Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 637 |
Birmingham and Solihull | 946 |
Black Country | 761 |
Central Scotland | 343 |
Cheshire | 359 |
Cumbria and Lancashire | 840 |
Devon and Cornwall | 691 |
Dorset Wiltshire Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 1024 |
Durham and Tees Valley | 626 |
East Anglia | 814 |
East London | 1257 |
East Scotland | 467 |
Essex | 738 |
Greater Manchester | 1384 |
Kent | 631 |
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire | 612 |
Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire and Rutland | 767 |
Mercia | 717 |
Merseyside | 874 |
National | 111 |
North and Mid Wales | 347 |
North East Scotland | 483 |
North East Yorkshire and Humber | 582 |
North London | 1026 |
Northern Scotland | 150 |
Northumberland Tyne and Wear | 699 |
South East Wales | 547 |
South London | 1314 |
South West Scotland | 395 |
South West Wales | 518 |
South Yorkshire | 651 |
Staffordshire and Derbyshire | 749 |
Surrey and Sussex | 877 |
West London | 1152 |
West Scotland | 404 |
West Yorkshire | 1066 |
Grand Total | 27049 |
The Government is committed to ensuring everyone, no matter their background, has the opportunity to start, stay and progress in work. We will publish our response to the In-work Progression Commission's report shortly, setting out our approach to supporting people on low pay and helping them to progress in work.
As of the 30th June there were over 243,000 jobs approved for funding by the Kickstart Scheme. We are unable at present to provide data on the number of approved jobs by region, as at that stage in the process we do not hold information about the exact location of a job, only the head office of the employer.
Over 145,000 jobs have been made available for young people to apply for and over 40,000 young people have started Kickstart jobs.
The table below shows the number of Kickstart jobs which have been offered and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain. The figures used are correct as of the 30th June and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Location | Jobs Advertised | Total Jobs Started |
East Midlands | 9,710 | 2,380 |
East of England | 11,410 | 2,890 |
London | 28,160 | 8,880 |
North East | 5,680 | 1,910 |
North West | 18,570 | 5,170 |
Scotland | 10,560 | 3,560 |
South East | 16,850 | 4,480 |
South West | 10,800 | 2,770 |
Wales | 8,200 | 2,120 |
West Midlands | 13,680 | 3,590 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 11,360 | 3,070 |
*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Advertised include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs |
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Conversations with claimants about the Restart Scheme have begun as of the 28th June, and referrals to providers are expected to start from 12th July.
Restart Scheme providers will deliver an intensive and tailored support offer to participants, aimed at helping them to get into sustained work. With each participant having a unique set of needs and aspirations, we can expect transitions to employment to happen at different points in their journeys.
As of the 16th June there were over 230,000 jobs approved for funding by the Kickstart Scheme. We are unable at present to provide data on the number of approved jobs by region, as at that stage in the process we do not hold information about the exact location of a job, only the head office of the employer.
Over 138,000 jobs have been made available for young people to apply for and over 36,000 young people have started Kickstart jobs. On average more than 500 young people started a Kickstart job a day between 22/04/2021 and 27/05/2021.
Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been offered and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures in these tables are correct as of 16/06/2021 and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.
Location | Jobs Advertised | Total Jobs Started |
East Midlands | 9,320 | 2,060 |
East of England | 11,050 | 2,520 |
London | 27,020 | 7,780 |
North East | 5,420 | 1,650 |
North West | 17,490 | 4,650 |
Scotland | 10,190 | 3,090 |
South East | 16,060 | 3,960 |
South West | 10,240 | 2,450 |
Wales | 7,820 | 1,890 |
West Midlands | 12,910 | 3,170 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 10,720 | 2,680 |
Rounded Totals | 138,290 | 36,000 |
*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Advertised include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs |
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Sector | Jobs Advertised | Total Jobs Started |
Administration | 34,940 | 9,230 |
Animal Care | 620 | 290 |
Beauty & Wellbeing | 1,000 | 280 |
Business & Finance | 4,990 | 1,260 |
Computing, Technology & Digital | 10,510 | 3,360 |
Construction & Trades | 4,420 | 1,210 |
Creative & Media | 10,610 | 3,760 |
Delivery & Storage | 4,080 | 1,090 |
Emergency & Uniform Services | 330 | 40 |
Engineering & Maintenance | 4,970 | 1,040 |
Environment & Land | 2,550 | 700 |
Government Services | 450 | 70 |
Healthcare | 4,470 | 940 |
Home Services | 1,040 | 150 |
Hospitality & Food | 12,630 | 2,320 |
Law & Legal | 310 | 130 |
Managerial | 930 | 200 |
Manufacturing | 3,340 | 990 |
Retail & Sales | 21,390 | 5,840 |
Science & Research | 690 | 150 |
Social Care | 3,390 | 530 |
Sports & Leisure | 3,210 | 790 |
Teaching & Education | 6,430 | 1,350 |
Transport | 510 | 80 |
Travel & Tourism | 480 | 100 |
Totals | 138,290 | 36,000 |
*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Advertised include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs |
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The most reliable data on youth unemployment in each region / nation of the UK is drawn from the Annual Population Survey. This is publicly available from the nomis website, at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/aps170
The ONS also produce experimental statistics on ‘Regional labour market: Estimates of unemployment by age’, which is available at:
This latter source is less reliable, as it is based on the Labour Force Survey which has a smaller sample size. However, its results are more timely.
The Department is supporting people across Great Britain who are most in need wherever they live. The Secretary of State, Ministers and Officials meet regularly with stakeholders to discuss a range of policy issues.
The Department engages regularly with local leaders, including the Mayoral Combined Authorities established in England, centrally and through the Work and Health Service network which has a strong operational presence in all regions. Policy and operational teams in DWP value local leaders’ insight and knowledge of their local labour markets. Local engagement has played an important role in our collaborative response to the pandemic and to support our economic recovery.
Policy teams frequently engage on a range of labour market initiatives, for example, on the Plan for Jobs. We have actively promoted the Kickstart Scheme and my officials have worked with local leaders to ensure the scheme can help as many young people as possible. Engagement with local leaders has also played a key part in the appointment of providers for the Restart employment scheme, which will start receiving referrals from 12th July. The Government will continue to engage local leaders as we develop the UKSPF’s investment framework and in advance of its publication.
Officials continue to keep their Scottish and Welsh Government counterparts updated on key labour market developments. DWP does not operate in Northern Ireland, but my Department has regular and frequent discussions with the Department for Communities on both policy and operational matters.
We are unable to provide an estimate of the proportion of SME employers participating in the Kickstart Scheme. However, we know that many small businesses have applied through approved gateway organisations. In February, the department removed the 30 job minimum requirement for applications to Kickstart to make the scheme more accessible to small businesses and sole traders giving them choice to apply direct or via one of over 900 Kickstart gateways organisations.
The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart Scheme throughout and after its implementation. This will include a longer term evaluation of the outcomes and impact on young people after they have completed their six month Kickstart job placement.
Employers wishing to participate in the Kickstart scheme can apply direct or with the support of a Gateway organisation – a Gateway application will usually include jobs from a number of employers. As of 6th May (since the beginning of the Scheme) the average number of vacancies per approved Kickstart application is 15 for Employers, 41 for Gateways, and an average of 28 for both Employers and Gateways combined.
*the above figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
£2bn has been allocated to Kickstart to create hundreds of thousands of 6-month job placements for young people aged 16-24, to improve their long term employability. Kickstart placements commenced in October 2020 and eligible young people will be able to start new Kickstart jobs until December 2021, with the final cohort of six-month jobs coming to an end in Summer 2022. Kickstart funding is not capped and we expect to use all funding to provide jobs for young people by the end of the scheme. Details of spend is unavailable at this time but will become available following the completion of the audited accounts.
The Department does not have a projection.
Actual data on the number of people on UC is available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Total UC caseload forecast can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2021
As of the 6th May 2021, over 108,000 jobs have been made available for young people to apply for through the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Kickstart Scheme. This includes over 20,000 jobs started by young people.
There have been over 200,000 jobs approved by the scheme.
We are unable at present to provide data on the number of approved jobs by region, as at that stage in the process we do not hold information about the exact location of a job, only the head office of the employer. We do hold regional information on jobs made available for young people to apply for and for placements started, which is provided below.
The tables below show these figures split by location and sector, the data presented has been rounded according to DWP statistical rounding convention. Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Location | Jobs Advertised | Total Jobs Started |
East Midlands | 7,270 | 1,120 |
East of England | 8,240 | 1,320 |
London | 22,740 | 4,500 |
North East | 4,560 | 960 |
North West | 13,560 | 2,840 |
Scotland | 7,540 | 1,770 |
South East | 12,320 | 2,350 |
South West | 7,670 | 1,440 |
Wales | 6,020 | 1,000 |
West Midlands | 10,030 | 1,850 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 8,310 | 1,580 |
Figures may not add up to provided totals due to rounding. 1,000 non-grant funded jobs are included in Jobs Advertised but not included under Jobs Started. Total jobs started includes those which have been completed or ended early. |
Sector | Jobs Advertised | Total Jobs Started |
Administration | 27,950 | 5,370 |
Animal Care | 480 | 160 |
Beauty & Wellbeing | 740 | 150 |
Business & Finance | 4,040 | 750 |
Computing, Technology & Digital | 8,490 | 2,110 |
Construction & Trades | 3,600 | 700 |
Creative & Media | 8,420 | 2,180 |
Delivery & Storage | 3,320 | 670 |
Emergency & Uniform Services | 230 | 10 |
Engineering & Maintenance | 3,900 | 470 |
Environment & Land | 2,140 | 360 |
Government Services | 290 | 30 |
Healthcare | 4,360 | 570 |
Home Services | 800 | 80 |
Hospitality & Food | 7,530 | 1,030 |
Law & Legal | 260 | 90 |
Managerial | 830 | 120 |
Manufacturing | 2,650 | 600 |
Retail & Sales | 17,120 | 3,680 |
Science & Research | 450 | 80 |
Social Care | 2,880 | 270 |
Sports & Leisure | 2,350 | 410 |
Teaching & Education | 4,720 | 760 |
Transport | 400 | 40 |
Travel & Tourism | 310 | 40 |
Figures may not add up to provided totals due to rounding. 1,000 non-grant funded jobs are included in Jobs Advertised but not included under Jobs Started. Total jobs started includes those which have been completed or ended early. |
The Department for Work and Pensions collects data on the uptake of the Kickstart Scheme. We have published information on the number of young people who have started in each region, here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-04-12/179100, but we are unable to break this down below the regional level at present.
The need to deliver and operate the Kickstart scheme at pace has led to a current limited clerical data set which, in turn, makes it harder to accurately present a snapshot of a smaller geographical area, such as a Parliamentary constituency. Information is contained across multiple systems as more than one Jobcentre could cover a single constituency. Conversely, Kickstart placements and vacancies are not allocated to one JCP, so we have many vacancies which may be connected to a company based or headquartered in one area, but the vacancies can be filled from a wider geographical area.
As such, it is not currently possible to provide the data below the regional level. We are, however, continuing to develop our management information tools and data collection system which may help in sharing more localised information at a local authority level in due course.
The Government is monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart Scheme throughout its implementation, and will continue to evaluate the longer term outcomes and impact for Kickstart participants.
Our focus is on delivering Kickstart jobs for young people as soon as we can. Eligible young people will be able to start new Kickstart jobs until December 2021, meaning the final cohort of six-month jobs will end in Summer 2022. There are currently no plans to extend the Kickstart Scheme.
As of 8th April 2021 there have been 18,900 applications received from gateway organisations and employers, of which 5,300 have been approved. These approved applications represent over 180,000 jobs. Over 11,800 young people have started in their Kickstart job.
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics.
As of the 8th of April, over 11,800 young people had started jobs created by the Department of Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme.
We are unable to provide a breakdown of the approved jobs by region as at the approval stage a company provides their registered address which will often not reflect the location of associated jobs.
The table below shows the number of starts broken down by region. The data in the table has been rounded. Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency.
Region | Starts |
East Midlands | 660 |
East of England | 780 |
London | 2600 |
North East | 490 |
North West | 1700 |
Scotland | 1100 |
South East | 1200 |
South West | 780 |
Wales | 540 |
West Midlands | 1200 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 890 |
I refer the honourable member to the answer given for PQ 147859.
We are not able to publish a breakdown of this data by nation or region at this time.
I refer the honourable member to the answer given for PQ 147859.
We are not able to publish a breakdown of this data by nation or region at this time.
The delivery of the Restart programme is dependent on an ongoing commercial exercise, on a robust approval process and on intensive readiness preparations. Should these prove successful, referrals to Restart should peak in winter 2021/22 and provider employment should track referral levels.
The delivery of the Restart programme is dependent on an ongoing commercial exercise, on a robust approval process and on intensive readiness preparations. Should these prove successful, referrals to Restart should peak in winter 2021/22 and provider employment should track referral levels.
From the launch of the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme until 04/02/21, there have been:
a. Over 120,000 jobs approved;
b. Over 2,000 jobs started;
c. Over 8,000 applications made. An employer or organisation can make multiple applications to the scheme.
As of 04/02/2021 there were over 120,000 approved jobs on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme.
Data regarding the uptake of the Kickstart Scheme is collected by the DWP. Local and Combined Authorities are welcome to apply for funding through the scheme and some already have.
The table below shows the number of gateway organisations approved as part of the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart scheme, broken down by region as of 11/01/2021. We are currently unable to break this data down by Local Authority, this data reflects the location of an organisation’s registered address and not necessarily the location where the gateway will be supporting Kickstart job placements.
Region | Number of unique Gateways Approved |
London | 143 |
North West | 95 |
South East | 78 |
West Midlands | 54 |
Scotland | 51 |
East of England | 45 |
East Midlands | 43 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 42 |
Wales | 31 |
South West | 26 |
North East | 26 |
As of 22/01/2021, there have been over 110,000 new job placements approved for funding by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart scheme. We are actively seeking more Kickstart job placements that can start before December 2021 and would welcome further applications from employers.
As of 19/01/2021, there have been (a) over 110,000 job placements created, (b) 1,916 young people starting job placements and (c) 6,530 applications to, the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme.
The Department published its latest benefit expenditure and caseload tables, including Universal Credit caseload over the next 5 financial years, which is available here [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2020]. This was published in December.
Estimates by age-group are not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
We are pleased to see the significant interest in the Kickstart Scheme from local authorities and recognise the excellent position they are in to support local opportunities.
We regularly meet with ministerial colleagues and our officials have engaged with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and the mayoral combined authorities throughout the Kickstart Scheme development process.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The chancellor announced at Spending Review £2.9bn for three years of referrals to Restart.
Restart will provide intensive, tailored employment support to help over 1 million people back towards sustained employment.
The commercial process will start in December, contracts will be awarded in Spring 2021, with go live Summer 2021. Further detail on the scheme will be announced in due course.
The chancellor announced at Spending Review £2.9bn for three years of referrals to Restart.
Restart will provide intensive, tailored employment support to help over 1 million people back towards sustained employment.
The commercial process will start in December, contracts will be awarded in Spring 2021, with go live Summer 2021. Further detail on the scheme will be announced in due course.
The chancellor announced at Spending Review £2.9bn for three years of referrals to Restart.
Restart will provide intensive, tailored employment support to help over 1 million people back towards sustained employment.
The commercial process will start in December, contracts will be awarded in Spring 2021, with go live Summer 2021. Further detail on the scheme will be announced in due course.
As of 26/11 there have been 5040 applications for funding through the DWP’s Kickstart Scheme. So far, applications from Gateways and employers covering 23’934 vacancies have been approved.
The Kickstart scheme is a £2bn programme to create thousands of 6-month job placements for young people aged 16-24, to improve their long term employability. Kickstart placements commenced in November 2020.
The information requested is not yet available.
Universal Credit takes into account income in the assessment period (AP) it is received. Payments from the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is treated as self-employed earnings in UC and we will take them into account when they are received. We will not therefore need to readjust previous months’ awards.
We treat the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) payments as self-employed earnings and take them into account in the month in which it is received.
The Department has not made an assessment of the income effect of the SEISS on people who are also claiming universal credit.
The Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments, Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2018 introduced a package of positive measures announced in the Autumn Budget on 22 November 2017 and the SSWP’s oral statement the following day. It also introduced additional measures that are very technical by nature, which had been highlighted as part of the learning process of Universal Credit and ensured the legislation reflected the intended policy.
We cannot see any merit in suspending these regulations. For example, we have no plans to re-introduce waiting days to Universal Credit during the Covid period, as this would reduce financial support for claimants and delay the initial payment, nor do we have any plans to suspend the Transition to UC Housing Payment (the two-week run on of Housing Benefit), as this would remove vital financial support for people moving to UC.
A patient’s general practice (GP) would usually be informed when they attended hospital, either via a discharge letter, or via a notification on an electronic patient record system. This is dependent on the National Health Service trust knowing the patient’s registered GP. A patient may object to the sharing of their information with their GP when visiting a trust, for example when attending accident and emergency, and the trust will need to follow data protection legislation and guidance to determine whether it is in its best interests to still share this with the patient’s GP.
The Circuit is operated independently by the British Heart Foundation, in partnership with the Resuscitation Council UK, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and the National Health Service. The Department does not have access to the information held on the Circuit and it is therefore not possible to provide information as requested.
The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly uptake figures for the Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The latest uptake figures were published on 31 August 2023. In August 2023, uptake for the NHS Healthy Start scheme was 66.0%, with 557,460 eligible beneficiaries.
The British Heart Foundation, in partnership with the Resuscitation Council UK, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and the National Health Service, has set up The Circuit, which is a national database of where defibrillators can be found so that ambulance services can identify the nearest defibrillator at the time of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The Circuit is live in all ambulance services across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As of August 2023, there were 54,976 defibrillators registered with the Circuit in England.
The information requested is not held centrally.
NHS England plans to publish data on community mental health longest waits in autumn 2023 using their proxy measure of how long to receive one or more contacts for children and young people, or two or more contacts for adults. NHS England plans to publish the full community mental health waiting times proposed in spring 2024. This will start to move away from only measuring contacts and will broaden focus on meaningful activities and improved outcomes.
The Government has committed more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to drive up and protect elective activity across England including the Wirral. This is supported further by £5.9 billion investment in capital for new beds, equipment, and technology.
In July 2022 we met our target to virtually eliminate long waits of two years or more for elective procedures, and significantly reduced the number of patients waiting 18 months or more by April 2023 by over 91% from the peak in September 2021. We have now moved our focus to cutting waits of 65 weeks or more to as near zero as possible by March 2024; this includes patients waiting for treatment in the Wirral. Capacity is being sought across the National Health Service and the independent sector locally, regionally and across the country to support efforts in hitting this target.
From October 2023, all patients waiting over 40 weeks where a decision to treat a patient has been made but the patient does not have a date for their treatment will be able to initiate a request to transfer to another provider and receive treatment more quickly via the Patient Initiated Digital Mutual Aid System.
As detailed in the answer to Question 192573, this data is not available in the format requested for a breakdown between specialist clinical care and surgery. The average waiting time nationally for referral to treatment for elective care was 14.5 weeks in February 2023 and 13.8 weeks in April 2023. Official NHS England figures for this statistic in June 2023 are not yet available, however the most recent published statistic for May 2023 was 14.1 weeks on average. These figures relate to the average time a patient is still waiting for their treatment to begin, at the end of the given month.
Average waiting times are not available per constituency. However, as of 28 May, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust had 41,375 people waiting for treatment, with over 58% waiting under 18 weeks.
This information is not collected centrally at present as national access and waiting times standards for these services in England has not yet been defined or set.
We are working with NHS England on the introduction of new waiting time standards for both children and young people’s community-based mental health services and urgent referrals across all ages to community-based mental health crisis services, as part of its clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards. A date for their introduction has not yet been set.
Department for Education analysis shows that 398 mental health support teams are now operational, covering 3.4 million pupils and learners in England in 6,800 schools and colleges. A further 100 teams are in training, taking the total number of operational teams to approximately 500 by spring 2024.
The current number of such teams in schools and colleges broken down by type of educational setting and by region is not available.
The Department does not hold this data centrally. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including holding data on the number of doctors on the medical register, as well as the number of doctors who have revoked their status on the medical register.
The Department does not hold this data centrally. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom which sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. The GMC is responsible for operational matters, including holding data on the number of doctors on the medical register, as well as the number of doctors who have revoked their status on the medical register.
It is a priority for the Government to support the health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff.
NHS planning guidance for 2023/24 emphasises the need to support staff, asking systems to refresh their workforce plans to improve staff experience and retention through a systematic focus on all elements of the NHS People Promise.
NHS England have developed a range of health and wellbeing initiatives which include a wellbeing guardian role, a focus on healthy working environments, empowering line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their wellbeing, and a comprehensive emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support package.
NHS staff can also access NHS Practitioner Health, a national support service for staff with more complex mental health needs brought about by serious issues such as trauma or addiction.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out how we will improve culture, leadership, wellbeing and staff retention over the next 15 years. The plan focuses on implementing actions from the NHS People Plan, improving flexible working opportunities and supporting the health and wellbeing of the NHS workforce.
The table below shows the number of fully qualified general practitioners (GPs) who left the National Health Service between March 2022 and March 2023, the latest month for which the data is available:
| Full-time equivalent | Headcount |
Fully Qualified GPs (excludes GPs in Training Grade) | 2,407 | 3,681 |
While GPs leave the NHS, new doctors join general practice and there are 1,900 more than in 2019. Measures to refine pension tax will help to retain experienced GPs.
Notes:
- Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) refers to the proportion of full-time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work. 1 would indicate they work a full set of hours (37.5), 0.5 that they worked half time. In GPs in Training Grades’ contracts 1 FTE = 40 hours and in this table these FTEs have been converted to the standard wMDS measure of 1 FTE = 37.5 hours for consistency.
- Figures shown do not include staff working in prisons, army bases, educational establishments, specialist care centres including drug rehabilitation centres, walk-in centres and other alternative settings outside of traditional general practice such as urgent treatment centres and minor injury units.
- It is not recommended that comparisons be made between quarterly or monthly figures (e.g. Mar 2016 to Sept 2016) due to the unknown effect of seasonality on workforce numbers. Any such comparisons should therefore be treated with extreme caution.
- The data shows GPs who joined and/or left the cohort workforce between the beginning and end of each specified time period.
- A leaver is a GP whose identifying information was present in the relevant dataset at the beginning but not at the end of the specified time period.
- Please note that these figures do not capture GP migration between practices during this period.
- In addition, due to data quality, a GP recorded as a leaver in these figures may have left one practice and joined another practice with poor data completion. In instances such as this, a GP will be incorrectly recorded as a leaver due to the identifying information no longer being present in the dataset. Conversely, a GP could appear in the practice cohort as a joiner but may have joined from a practice with poor data completion rather than being a new addition to the GP workforce.
Every month, NHS England publish data on staff working in the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) setting and staff working in the general practice (GP) setting in England.
The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in HCHS and GP settings in January 2023 and April 2023. June 2023 data is not yet available.
Setting Type January 2023 April 2023
HCHS 1,269,228 1,280,377
GP 143,012 143,948
Source: NHS Workforce Statistics
Monthly data timeseries for HCHS settings can be found at the following link: https://files.digital.nhs.uk/C1/85E8AA/NHS%20Workforce%20Statistics%2C%20April%202023%20England%20Provisional%20statistics.xlsx
Monthly data timeseries for GP settings can be found at the following link: https://files.digital.nhs.uk/FE/661126/GPW%20Bulletin%20Tables%20-%20May%202023.xlsx
Every quarter, NHS England publish data on the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) mental health workforce. The data shows that as of March 2023 (the latest data), there were 142,754 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the mental health workforce working in the HCHS setting. In December 2022, there were 138,610 FTE staff in the mental health workforce
The definition of the HCHS mental health workforce includes those who are providing or supporting the provision of mental health services. Staff are included if they have either an NHS Occupation Code or Area of Work that is related to mental health services.
This data is not available in the format requested. Average waiting times for referral to treatment for elective care were 14.5 weeks in February 2023, and 13.8 weeks in April 2023. These figures relate to the average time a patient is still waiting for their treatment to begin, at the end of the given month. Official NHS England figures for June 2023 have not yet been published.
The NHS has published a Long Term Workforce Plan which outlines the steps the Government has taken to support the recruitment and retention of mental health specialists, including in Wirral South.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the NHS People Plan and the NHS People Promise set out a comprehensive range of actions to improve staff retention. They provide a strong focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive National Health Service culture by strengthening health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working. In addition, the NHS Retention Programme is continuously seeking to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well.
Specifically, June 2023 saw a number of actions to improve recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in the NHS.
NHS England held several events, including: seven regional communities of practice workshops to support recruitment and retention of early career nurses, midwives and Allied Health Professionals; an event focused on international recruits; and a series of roundtables with representatives from the 23 retention exemplar trusts, which are working to implement the People Promise. These events focused on sharing best practice on strategies to improve recruitment and retention and supporting staff in career development.
Additionally, NHS England launched the ‘Retaining doctors in late-stage career guidance’ in collaboration with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/retaining-doctors-in-late-stage-career-guidance/