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 engage with local employers to support new graduates into employment.

We are working closely with employers and other partner’s to deliver the Government’s Plan for Jobs, providing a comprehensive package of support for all young people – including graduates.

Our national and local Employer and Partnership Teams are engaging with employers across the country to bring in employment opportunities in a variety of sectors. These include many of the opportunities established as part of the Plan for Jobs, including Kickstart, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, Apprenticeships and traineeships. These provide a wide range of ways for young people to access work in their local area and enable employers to engage their future workforce. Young people, including new graduates will have access to these through their local Jobcentre Plus and via the Government’s official job matching service Find a Job website.

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, to help build employability skills, gain work experience or enter the labour market.

We have provided Plan for Jobs information for employers on GOV.UK and employers can access our Help for Employers website which offers a range of advice to help businesses overcome challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Whether employers are needing to expand rapidly, or worried about redundancies, they can find advice on next steps and the best ways to support their staff.