Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the jobless rates for (a) recent education-leavers and (b) young black people as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

This Government’s Plan for Jobs is delivering a comprehensive package of support for all young people – including education leavers and those from an ethnic minority – which DWP is providing in collaboration with the Department for Education, schools and other partners.

For young people from all backgrounds, the DWP Youth Offer is the wrap-around support programme, helping young people access so much of the positive provision stood up as part of the Plan for Jobs. The Youth Offer includes Youth Hubs, which are co-located and co-delivered with our network of external partners to offer a range of skills and work-related services to help young people access the labour market.

The Government has also implemented a range of measures to help deliver on our commitment to provide all young people with opportunities to develop skills that will enable them to secure jobs in productive and fulfilling careers, including help for young people through Kickstart. Jobs from the Kickstart Scheme are open to 16–24-year-olds, who are claiming Universal Credit, and are at risk of long-term unemployment. Young people can speak to their work coach to find out more.

We have supported the development of the Department for Education’s Graduate Employment and Skills Guide that is published on the Office for Students website. The guide is designed to help final-year students and recent graduates by signposting to a range of public, private and voluntary sector opportunities. In addition, the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme provides targeted local and regional support on NEET prevention to raise young people’s aspirations and support their post-education progression.

DWP recognises the need for targeted support to help ethnic minority job seekers into work. We work with a range of partners and employers in this area, including on a national programme of mentoring circles.