Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of improving the local delivery of unemployment support to (a) young people and (b) the long-term unemployed.

Our Plan for Jobs builds on and bolsters the existing support offered by our Jobcentre Plus network.

For young people the package includes a new Kickstart Scheme offering opportunities for high quality 6-month work placements, a new youth offer, and an expansion of sector based work academies. This package builds on our Job Help website that promotes guidance on areas such as identifying transferrable skills as well as extra information about jobs and other opportunities in different parts of the country, including local recruitments, jobsfairs and skills training.

We also plan to introduce a new, large-scale employment offer for people who have spent longer out of work, giving them the help they need to get into sustained, fulfilling employment.

The whole country has experienced the economic effect of Covid-19 but we know that some areas and some sectors of the economy have been more badly affected. DWP, along with other government departments, will continue to work in partnership with mayors, local government, businesses and charities, through forums such as local employment and skills advisory panels, to level up our economy and to make sure national programmes, such as the Kickstart Scheme, meet their economic needs. As part of our first response, we are working with local areas to invest £250 million from the European Social Fund’s reserve to help people, including young people and the long term unemployed, find jobs and learn new skills in England.