Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the prevalence of discrimination towards young ethnic minorities seeking employment.

Employment statistics show the ethnic minority employment rate at 68%, up 9.2 percentage points on the same quarter in 2010, with 5.4m people from an ethnic minority background in employment which is a record high.

The Department supports people to move into employment by providing access to a range of mainstream services and bespoke programmes that are designed to be flexible to individual needs. We also take targeted action where there is a high ethnic minority employment gap and work with partners, employers, and specific sectors to improve opportunities for all.

The Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. This was expanded in 2023 to include additional young people on Universal Credit not currently searching for work, including young parents and carers.

In April 2023, the Government's Equality Hub published updated guidance for employers on how to use the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010. This is to help people who share a particular protected characteristic overcome barriers and to level the playing field.