Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the reasons why the level of unemployment in Wolverhampton North East constituency is more than twice the national average; and what steps her Department is taking to lower the rate of unemployment in that constituency.

The Office for National Statistics estimate between July 2017 to June 2018, with 95% confidence, that the unemployment rate in Wolverhampton North East was between 5.7% and 13.1%, with a central estimate of 9.4%.

Employment in the West Midlands is up by 78,000 on the year and 307,000 since 2010, to 2.78 million.

This Government’s Industrial Strategy sets out how we will build a Britain fit for the future – and help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs with investment in the skills, industries and infrastructure of the future.