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 impact of the Kickstart scheme in the (a) arts, (b) digital, (c) creative and (d) cultural sectors; if she will make it her policy to extend the scheme beyond the planned end date; and if she will make a statement.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given for PQ 71418 for a recent breakdown of jobs made available and started by sector.

We have worked across sectors to deliver a series of sector-specific webinars to encourage and support employer applications to Kickstart. This has included a creative and media industries webinar and a digital webinar, delivered in partnership with the sector itself, inviting more than 200 employers from the tech and digital sector. We continue to support these sectors for the remainder of the Kickstart Scheme, whilst recognising that Kickstart jobs must be additional, not displacing existing opportunities within the wider labour market.

On Monday 4 October 2021 the Chancellor announced that Kickstart would run-on to the end of March 2022, extending the window for young people to take part in the Scheme beyond the original closing date of 31 December 2021. The deadline for employers and gateways to submit their application is 17 December 2021. There are no current plans to extend the Scheme further.