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 improve the support provided by Jobcentre Plus centres in County Durham.

There are 10 Jobcentres within County Durham, all of which have teams who actively collaborate with a range of partners to support people into work and, help employers to fill vacancies.

The Jobcentres are working with partners such as Durham New College, Derwentside College, East Durham College, Durham County Council, Barclays, the NHS, Community Hubs, National Careers Service, and Mental Health Matters to provide a wraparound employment and skills offer for customers. This offer is designed to support customers and help them find work and, help meet the recruitment needs of local employers.

We take a sector-based approach to recruitment and our Jobcentres have been working closely with employers to run Job Fairs for various sectors including manufacturing, Civil Service, hospitality, logistics, health care, construction, retail, security, adult social care and telecoms. As an example, Durham Jobcentre recently hosted a Care focussed event with employers including Care Academy, Embracing Care, HC One, Kelly Park and the NHS.

Disability Employment Advisers (DEA’s) offer advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and those with health conditions into work. the Embracing Employment and Healthcare trial is currently being piloted within Durham City Jobcentre. Employment and Healthcare Practitioners (EHPs) are co located within the Jobcentre working with customers who apply for Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit and who have declared a health condition or disability. EHP’s work with them to understand the impact their health condition has on their daily lives, identifying their individual barriers and support them in addressing those barriers.