Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at the time of Working Links (Employment) Ltd's collapse what contacts they held with her Department; what the total value was of each of those contracts; and how much her Department had paid to Working Links (Employment) Ltd in relation to each of those contracts.

Working links held 3 Work Programme contracts, 5 Work Choice contracts, 6 European Social Fund contracts and were on the low value Dynamic Purchasing System.

Work Programme and Work Choice were in exit mode, following cessation of referrals in March 2017 and November 2018 respectively, at the point of administration.

Copies of the contract and contract values are accessible on the following site. https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

In accordance with the Government transparency commitment I can confirm that the DWP publishes a list of all financial transactions over £500 and £25,000

For spend over £25,000 follow the below link:-

https://data.gov.uk/dataset/ccdc397a-3984-453b-a9d7-e285074bba4d/spend-over-25-000-in-the-department-for-work-and-pensions

Explanatory notes on your findings on spend over £25000 can be found by following the below link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes

For spend over £500 follow the below link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/what-dwp-spends

Explanatory notes on your findings on spend over £500 can be found by following the below link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-government-procurement-card-monthly-payments-explanatory-notes

Departmental contracts held by Working Links were on a payment by results basis and, therefore, actual spend will not align to the contract value as the latter is based on 100% performance.