Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to help ensure equality of employment opportunity in Dudley North constituency.

DWP offers significant support to unemployed people across Great Britain to access employment opportunities through our network of Jobcentres. Our Work Coaches provide support on finding a job, help with retraining or skills advice, CV, job applications and access to the new vacancies we record every day, as well as signposting to our new Jobhelp website. We adopt a blended approach of channels to connect with customers, to reflect current restrictions and comply with COVID safety.

The Department is working closely with other government departments, external organisations and local partners to support people into work.

The Kickstart scheme was recently launched to help young people aged 16-24 find 6-month work places in Dudley, and we have developed Youth Hubs locally to provide outreach support. There are two Youth Hubs which can be accessed by young people in Dudley, one at The Archives in Dudley Town Centre and one at the Merry Hill Centre in Brierley Hill. We have also partnered with employers in the area to deliver Mentoring Circles and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.