Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people living with a musculoskeletal condition to remain in work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
MSK conditions are one of the leading conditions reported by people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness in the UK, increasing by 34% between 2018/19 and 2023/24.
The ‘Get Britain Working’ white paper sets out government’s plans to reform employment, health and skills support to tackle rising economic inactivity levels including the £3.5m joint DWP, DHSC and NHS England ‘Getting It Right First Time’ MSK Community Delivery Programme which will work directly with ICBs to reduce MSK community waiting times, improve data and enable referral pathways to wider support services.
WorkWell sites also went live in 15 areas across England from October 2024, providing low intensity holistic support for health-related barriers to employment, and a single joined up gateway to existing local work and health service provision. By Spring 2026, WorkWell is expected to support up to 56,000 disabled people and people with health conditions, including MSK, to get into work and get on at work.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support young people living with a long-term health condition to find work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that many people find health conditions and disabilities a barrier to employment. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
Department for Work and Pensions currently provides young people aged 16-24, who are claiming Universal Credit, with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work. Youth Employability Coaches specifically work closely with Disability Employment Advisors to support those with disabilities and health conditions.
Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education will also be launching a Youth Guarantee for all 18-21 year olds in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work, starting in eight Youth Trailblazer areas from this Spring.
There are a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals with health conditions to stay in work and get back into work, which involve joint working between Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Health and Social Care. Support includes Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support programme for people with severe mental illnesses, and Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme aimed at disabled people with complex barriers to employment. In addition, Department for Health and Social Care’s Early Support Hubs also provide employment advice and broader mental health and wellbeing support to young people aged 11-25.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of work in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In November 2024 the number of 16 to 24 year olds in Knowsley was 655. The claimant count series counts the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit and are required to seek work and be available for work.
Liverpool Mayoral Combined Authority was one of the eight trailblazer areas to test the Youth Guarantee announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper. The results from these trailblazers will help us to develop the most effective offer for all young people in England, including those in the Knowsley constituency.
The Youth Guarantee will be available to all young people aged 18-21, not just those on benefits. It will help young people to access education, training and employment support.
Local Jobcentres work closely with Knowsley Works, the Local Authority employability service, to promote Apprenticeships and Job Opportunities, as well as working in partnership to deliver employability support and events.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to employment opportunities for disabled people in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people with their employment journey. We are delivering a range of initiatives in Knowsley and across Merseyside to support disabled people into work including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and through Access to Work grants.
Disability Employment Advisers hold regular health-themed events in both Kirkby and Huyton Jobcentres, alongside partner organisations that support customers with managing health conditions and gaining skills. All events have a ‘quiet hour’, accessible for customers with Autism, special educational needs and mental health issues. Where health presents a barrier to employment, customers can benefit from additional time with a Work Coach.
Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Local employers attend Kirkby and Huyton Jobcentres each week, and over fifty Disability Confident employers joined an employment event in Merseyside recently, all with vacancies and over 400 customers attending. The department works closely with Knowsley Chamber with regular sessions delivered to employers on Disability Confident and Access to Work, supporting them with reasonable adjustments for new employees and helping to retain staff.
As part of a wider project across Liverpool City Region, we are collaborating with Knowsley Borough Council to support people with special educational needs, disabled young adults, their parents, schools and colleges across Merseyside, on the transition between education and employment. This includes ‘Meet the Employer Sessions’ in our Jobcentres, with information on jobs, training and apprenticeships.
We have close links with Knowsley Works who run a positive inclusion programme for customers with physical and mental health needs. For customers with addiction issues, we have close working with Individual Placement and Support who attend our Jobcentres to speak to customers and work with peer mentors to encourage them to make better choices.
Several programmes have been funded locally to support disabled people move closer to work in Knowsley, including ‘Stepping Forward’, counselling and support for those customers who struggle to leave the house due to physical and mental impairments, dyslexia support which includes assessment and one-to-one support to help customers gain and retain employment and autism support.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in Knowsley constituency in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics for the total number of people living in relative and absolute poverty are not available at a constituency level.
Statistics on the total number of people in living in relative and absolute poverty both before and after housing costs at regional level are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)
Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication and can be found in tabs “5_Relative_ParlC” and “6_Absolute_ParlC”. These are only produced on a before housing cost basis.
A link to these statistics can be found here: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)