Found: definition of “high quality education” given by prospective students was “availability of graduate employment

Found: will choose to spend their money on NEETs, others will take a view that as there are other skills and employment

Found: Our recommendations: •Employment schemes like Access to Work are a vital resource but it is often

Found: the service should work in partnership, with didn’t mention either Restart or WHP, the two largest employment

Found: ...................................................... 5 What lessons can be learned from employment

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing multi-year funding employability programmes funded by her Department.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Employment programmes such as the Restart Scheme and the Work and Health Programme currently use multi-year funding to ensure the Department secures value for money and delivers employment support that is cost effective.

The Department is also working with local areas in England and Wales to deliver the manifesto commitment to enable local areas to shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer for local people. This will start with multi-year funding to expand the availability of a new national supported employment programme with an offer shaped around local priorities. This new programme will help disabled people, those with health conditions and those with complex employment barriers to find and fulfil their potential to work.

The main costs for these programmes and their providers are staffing, estates and digital infrastructure, all of which would be higher for single year than for multi-year funded programmes due to a combination of set-up and recruitment costs being absorbed over lower volumes and costs of temporary staff, short leases and other provider costs being higher generally.

The benefits of multi-year funded programmes include reduced costs, increased value for money and positive returns to the Exchequer.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Communities Minister on the termination of the JobStart programme for 16-25 year olds in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

I have not had any discussions with the Northern Ireland Communities Minister regarding the JobStart scheme. The Northern Ireland Department for the Communities is responsible for the delivery of the scheme which has received £15 million New Deal for Northern Ireland funding from the UK Government to cover the period April 2023 to March 2025.

The JobStart application portal closed on 30 June 2024 as planned. All participants currently on the scheme will be able to complete their JobStart opportunity.

Investment in skills and employment is a devolved matter and any decision on future funding for the JobStart scheme is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his policy to continue the Operation Prosper campaign.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The Government is fully committed to delivering for veterans as an integral part of our Armed Forces community. I am leading work across Government to look at the best ways to ensure veterans and their families get access to the health, housing, employment and other support they need.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding he plans to allocate to Op Prosper over this Parliament.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The Government is fully committed to delivering for veterans as an integral part of our Armed Forces community. I am leading work across Government to look at the best ways to ensure veterans and their families get access to the health, housing, employment and other support they need.

Work is ongoing to determine the spend for Operation PROSPER and Operation FORTITUDE for the current financial year. The budget for the remainder of this Parliament will be determined by the next Spending Review, which has not yet commenced.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Veterans’ Career Development Fund on employment levels for veterans.

Answered by Johnny Mercer

This Government is committed to making sure that our veterans and their families have equitable access and opportunity to a full range of career options after leaving military service, including access to the qualifications, training and skills development they may need to progress in their careers.

The recently announced Op PROSPER backed by £2.1 million in government funding includes the £700,000 Veterans’ Career Development Fund grant, which makes funding available to organisations providing qualifications, training and skills development to veterans and their families in locally based communities across the country.

The Veterans’ Career Development Fund is administered as a grant by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, and includes a planned evaluation of the overall Op PROSPER programme and its outcomes.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Going Forward into Employment scheme for supporting ethnic minority veterans.

Answered by Johnny Mercer

This Government is committed to making sure that all veterans have equal opportunities and can access valuable, sustainable careers, including in the Civil Service, after they leave the Armed Forces.

A breakdown of demographics and locations of veterans who apply to Civil Service roles is not held in the format requested.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people over the age of 50 receive adequate support through the Back to Work Plan.

Answered by Jo Churchill

The Government offers comprehensive support for eligible older jobseekers across the UK through the 50 Plus Choices Offer. This includes the provision of over 70 50plus Champions who play a key role in supporting delivery of a comprehensive package of support across the country.

The 2.5 billion Back to Work Plan, announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 includes measures to support all customers, including the over 50s, to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market.

Through this Plan, the Government is boosting four key programmes, NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support, Restart and Universal Support – to benefit up to 1.1 million people over the next five years and help those with mental or physical health conditions stay in or find work.

On 7 May, we announced that 15 areas across England will be piloting a new health support service as part of the Government’s plan to help people with health conditions back to work.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were on the Individual Placement and Support programme on 15 May 2024.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

We have interpreted your question as referring to the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative and Work and Health Programme (WHP) Pioneer, both of which form part of the first phase of Universal Support.

We explained in our press release that we expect to help 25,000 people by September 2024. Progress will be reported in the WHP official statistics publication on GOV.UK. Information relating to IPSPC is not currently available; however, the Secretary of State has committed to the publication of data for the IPSPC initiative as part of the first phase of Universal Support. This will be pre-announced prior to publication.

The next release of published statistics for the WHP is planned for 30 May 2024. This release will include statistics on starts, referrals and individual referrals to WHP Pioneer. Statistics on job outcomes and first earnings from employment will be released in later publications.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving employment support services to (a) London boroughs and (b) the Mayor of London.

Answered by Jo Churchill

As part of the English Devolution Trailblazer deeper devolution deals, the Department of Work and Pensions have agreed with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities to test a new approach to design of future Contracted Employment Programmes including co-design and a delegated delivery model, aligned with the Combined Authorities geographical footprint.

We will evaluate the impacts and outcomes of this new approach to further understand the opportunities and risks involved, before considering the Department’s approach to future contracted employment programmes.

Full details of the ‘Trailblazer’ deals can be found here:

Greater Manchester Combined Authority Trailblazer deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

West Midlands Combined Authority: “Trailblazer” deeper devolution deal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on the roll out of the Back to Work Plan.

Answered by Jo Churchill

We are making good progress delivering the Back to Work plan. For example, in April we published a call for evidence on fit note reform and on May 7^th announced the 15 areas that will pilot our new WorkWell service.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what national specialist employment support his Department plans to provide for disabled people, in the context of the planned ending of funding for the Work and Health Programme.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

The government’s £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan will support over a million people to break down barriers to finding and staying in work through the use of NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support, Restart and Universal Support which aims to support up to 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and people with additional barriers to employment per year, once fully rolled out, helping them to find, enter, and remain in work.

Any further announcements regarding the Work and Health Programme will be made in due course.

Found: The Life Chances Team has brought together Going Forward into Employment schemes (prison leavers, veterans

Found: The Life Chances Team has brought together Going Forward into Employment schemes (prison leavers, veterans

Found: Engagement with government employment schemes and wider engagement with DWP .......................

Found: , Scotland, who employ two people with learning difficulties and have engaged positively with local employment