Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of extending the length of time those claiming legacy benefits can participate in a Skills Bootcamp in HGV driving to 16 weeks.

Through DWP Train and Progress Universal Credit claimants can access all full-time work-related training for up to 16 weeks. This includes Skills Bootcamps in the logistics sector and allows claimants to benefit from gaining key vocational skills, in all sectors where there is labour market demand.

We plan to review the impact of the 16-week extension on outcomes and will take a view as to whether we expand this flexibility to legacy benefit claimants.