Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of graduate schemes in supporting graduate-level employment.

Graduate schemes are designed and operated by individual employers and are not overseen or monitored by DWP. As such, DWP does not hold a central assessment of the adequacy of these employer‑run schemes.

Although we do not capture data on the adequacy of graduate schemes, the latest published DfE data shoes the unemployment rate for graduates is lower than non-graduates. A link to this data can be found here.

DWP’s role is to support all jobseekers, including graduates, into work through Jobcentre Plus and wider programmes; departments and employers are responsible for the design and evaluation of their own graduate schemes.