Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mims Davies and John Howell

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

9. What support her Department provides to older jobseekers looking to reskill or change careers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mims Davies)]

The Department’s focus on 50 PLUS: Choices, alongside our plan for jobs, provides funding to ensure that more people of all ages get tailored support. That includes programmes such as the job finding support service, job entry targeted support and the restart scheme, to help them find work. That is in addition to the Department’s train and progress and sector-based work academy programmes, to help people gain confidence, skills and job-specific qualifications, and to progress into employment.

[Mims Davies]

A green recovery presents a significant opportunity for UK workers of all ages to benefit from increasing employment opportunities, including those clean growth sectors. The DWP is supporting people into green jobs as the sector grows, through work coach interventions that will ensure that jobseekers are able to develop skills to match the changing needs of the local labour market and their own aspirations.

[John Howell]

One thing that concerns me is how we can boost the technical skills that older people learn. What is the Department doing in that respect?

[Mims Davies]

I am pleased to share with my hon. Friend and the House the fact that in May, a littler earlier in the year, I launched a key partnership with Google offering free IT training for jobseekers. That opportunity gives 9,000 jobseekers the chance to obtain a Google career certificate, which is a level 3 qualification and recognised by the industry. As of 3 September, our jobcentres have referred more than 3,800 people to that life-changing employment scheme.