Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help young universal credit claimants into work.

Our plan to go further, as laid out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, is critical to growing the economy. This includes implementing a new national jobs and career service to help get more people into work alongside a Youth Guarantee, meaning more quality opportunities for training, an apprenticeship or help to find work for all young people aged 18-21 years old, to prevent them becoming excluded from the world of work at a young age.

The Department understands the negative effects of unemployment can be particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings potential and life chances. This is why the Department for Work and Pensions has a particular focus on ensuring young people are supported into employment, whilst also recognising their needs will vary depending on where they live and their own individual circumstances.

The Department for Work and Pensions currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.