Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to offer employment opportunities in the health and social care sectors to young people affected by reductions in employment opportunities as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and how many and what proportion of employment opportunities made available through the Kickstarter programme are jobs in the health and social care sectors.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ are actively promoting roles within the Health and Social Care sector via Work Coach conversations, resources on the DWP’s JobHelp website and a range of provision. As part of A Plan for Jobs, DWP’s Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes were expanded to include an additional £17m to support 32,000 more vocational training placements in 2020/21. Employers are also offering many Kickstart jobs in the Health and Social Care sector.

I refer the honourable member to PQ 167248 for a breakdown of Kickstart jobs per sector.