Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on helping support adults with autism into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We know that most autistic people want to have a job, and evidence shows that they bring many positive benefits to their employers. We are therefore taking positive steps to promote initiatives which help and support autistic adults to move closer to the labour market and into employment.
The Buckland Review into Autism Employment focused on increasing the number of autistic people in high-quality and sustainable employment. Specifically, it focused on identifying barriers preventing autistic people from securing employment, retaining employment, and growing their careers; and on recommending actions to overcome those barriers.
The evidence gathering stage of the review is now complete, and the review team has drawn the evidence together into a report and recommendations, ready for publication shortly.
We are also supporting employers via Disability Confident to increase their understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and those with long term health conditions. The scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people, neurodivergent people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.
The Spring Budget confirmed funding for a new employment programme called Universal Support. Universal Support will use the proven supported employment model to support inactive disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment into sustained work.
In the Autumn Statement we announced that we are expanding the Universal Support scheme so it will provide support for 100k people a year once fully rolled out – increasing from 50k a year announced in Spring Budget 2023.
Eligible autistic and learning-disabled people will be able to opt in to receive up to 12 months of “place and train” support - helping them move quickly into suitable work, followed with wraparound support to help them to sustain that employment for the longer-term.
We are also continuing to run a series of programmes which include employment support for autistic people, such as the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support and Local Supported Employment.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion.
In England, £421 million is being provided to extend the existing Household Support Fund from 01 October to 31 March. Guidance and individual local authority indicative allocations for this further extension to the Household Support Fund will be published soon. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Kickstart scheme in (a) Leicestershire and (b) Bosworth.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are pleased to say that, as of the 8th September, over 69,000 young people have started Kickstart jobs. Over 188,000 jobs have been made available for young people to apply for through the Kickstart Scheme with over 281,000 jobs approved for funding by the Scheme.
Below are tables listing the number of Kickstart jobs which have been made available and started by young people to date by geographical area of Great Britain and work sector. The figures used are correct as of the 8th September and these figures have been rounded according to departmental standards.
We are currently not able to publish a breakdown below the regional and national level although expect to be able to do so in due course, this is because the information is contained across multiple systems and the work to gather and quality assure it would be a disproportionate cost.
From 18/08/2021 to 08/09/2021, over 4,800 jobs were made available each week, and over 2,800 started each week.
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 Made Available | Total Jobs Started |
East Midlands | 11,900 | 4,170 |
East of England | 14,900 | 4,870 |
London | 38,400 | 15,170 |
North East | 7,500 | 3,170 |
North West | 24,000 | 8,830 |
Scotland | 13,800 | 6,140 |
South East | 21,700 | 7,460 |
South West | 14,000 | 4,660 |
Wales | 10,600 | 3,390 |
West Midlands | 16,900 | 6,150 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 14,600 | 5,250 |
*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Made Available include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and Total Starts include around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs |
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Sector | Jobs Made Available | Total Jobs Started |
Administration | 46,900 | 17,420 |
Animal Care | 1,000 | 540 |
Beauty & Wellbeing | 1,300 | 520 |
Business & Finance | 6,700 | 2,540 |
Computing Technology & Digital | 13,100 | 6,110 |
Construction & Trades | 5,800 | 2,200 |
Creative & Media | 14,500 | 6,980 |
Delivery & Storage | 5,500 | 1,970 |
Emergency & Uniform Services | 400 | 160 |
Engineering & Maintenance | 6,200 | 2,110 |
Environment & Land | 3,500 | 1,450 |
Government Services | 700 | 130 |
Healthcare | 5,200 | 1,530 |
Home Services | 1,400 | 360 |
Hospitality & Food | 21,100 | 5,360 |
Law & Legal | 400 | 210 |
Managerial | 1,100 | 340 |
Manufacturing | 4,600 | 1,890 |
Retail & Sales | 29,200 | 11,370 |
Science & Research | 700 | 330 |
Social Care | 4,700 | 1,120 |
Sports & Leisure | 4,300 | 1,690 |
Teaching & Education | 8,900 | 2,570 |
Transport | 500 | 150 |
Travel & Tourism | 600 | 210 |
*These numbers are rounded and so may not match provided totals. Jobs Made Available include 1,000 non-grant funded vacancies and Total Starts include around 900 starts to non-grant funded jobs |
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Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the (a) introduction and (b) initial operation of the Restart Scheme for jobseekers in (i) the UK and (ii) Leicestershire.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Restart Scheme is still in its initial stage. It is aimed at supporting people who have been on Universal Credit in the Intensive Work Search Regime for 12-18 months into sustained employment. Referrals to Restart began in July 2021 and participants can spend up to 12 months on the scheme.
At this stage, it is too early to give an assessment of the effectiveness of the introduction and initial operation. However, a comprehensive, multi-strand evaluation will be undertaken to provide a robust analysis of Restart delivery and impact.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to consult (a) people with disabilities and (b) representative groups on any developments of her Department's strategic objectives following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 23rd March 2021 to question number 169969.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to consult (a) people with disabilities and (b) representative groups on her Department's strategic objectives following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department for Work and Pensions places a strong emphasis on engaging with stakeholders to inform health and disability policy. Before the Covid-19 outbreak we hosted a series of workshops across the country where local disability organisations and disabled people shared their experiences of DWP services and priorities for future changes. We have continued this engagement since Covid-19 with a series of virtual events with charities and disabled people, where we heard from people about the impact of the pandemic on their lives. The forthcoming Health and Disability Green Paper will reflect themes coming out of those conversations and ask for views on how best to address them. We will continue this engagement with further events with disabled people and their representatives in the run up to the publication of the Green Paper, during the consultation period, and beyond.
To support the development of the National Strategy for Disabled People and future work, the Government has already engaged widely with a diverse range of stakeholders, including the Disability Charities Consortium, the Regional Stakeholder Networks, individual disabled people and others.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she is making on increasing the number of work coaches in (a) Leicestershire and (b) Bosworth.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Bosworth constituency is home to Hinckley Jobcentre Plus, one of our smaller sites and has already had an additional Work Coach join the team since March 2020
Across the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire District, we have recruited an additional 302 Work Coaches so far with a further 52 joining us by the end of March 2021.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure adequate staff resources in (a) her Department's and (b) Jobcentre Plus's teams covering Bosworth constituency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is continually impacting and assessing the service being offered to customers and we continue to keep staff numbers under review as part of our response to the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market. Work Coach recruitment campaigns have been launched across the country, including Bosworth constituency, as the department doubles the number of Work Coaches from 13,500 to 27,000.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of initiatives to progress the awareness and take up of pension credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The precise updated data on the effectiveness of the spring 2020 campaign is not yet able to be provided.
The purpose of the campaign was to raise Pension Credit awareness and test impact.
There was a 20% increase in telephone calls to the Pension Credit claim line (during the course of the campaign the weekly average was 2,493 phone calls compared to a weekly average in 2019 of 2,079 phone calls).
There was also significant engagement with social media and a spike of activity on viewing the Pension Credit website pages with more than 5,000 sessions on the launch day, 10 February (compared to 1,000 on 3 February).
However, it should be stressed that other factors may affect these numbers, including the BBC TV licensing decision and the effect of the Pandemic.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 people into jobs or training opportunities aligned to the development of the Green Economy.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Across Government we are developing policies to support people to pivot to high demand, growth sectors, including low-carbon and climate resilient jobs. There are already over 460,000 people working in low carbon businesses and their supply chains across the country and by 2030 the UK could support up to 2 million green jobs.
DWP’s Jobcentre Plus network supports thousands of jobseekers each year to move into the labour market, including jobs in the Green Economy. The Government’s pledge to double the number of Work Coaches to 27,000 by March 2021 will ensure that jobseekers continue to have access this expert and tailored support. As announced on 8th July, we are continuing to support jobseekers by increasing participation in our sector-based work academy programmes (SWAP). We will continue to establish bespoke opportunities, including those within the Green Economy, working with employers and training providers to support jobseekers to fill job vacancies and pivot into new careers.