Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support youth employment schemes such as UK Year of Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK Year of Service is one of several youth employment schemes announced and part funded by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). We have been working with DCMS and the National Citizen Service Trust to ensure the scheme achieves the best outcomes for the young people it will support. This includes exploring opportunities to join-up and build on the Department for Work and Pensions’ positive relationship with employers, and by sharing knowledge and evidence related to supporting young people in to work.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3734 on Ministry of Defence: Employment Schemes, what steps he is taking to ensure that the (a) Rise and (b) Elevate schemes attract a diverse range of talent.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Rise and Elevate Schemes have been advertised together widely across the department to heighten awareness and attract as much of the Ministry of Defence’s diverse range of talent as possible. Multiple channels were used, including; department-wide MODNet intranet articles; engagement workshops; local communications from Top Level Budget business area talent leads; engagement with staff networks, including the growing Women’s and Race Networks; and information sessions as part of National Inclusion and Learning at Work weeks.
Selection utilised fair, open and merit-based recruitment principles. Best practice for attracting diverse talent included anonymised applications and providing requested reasonable adjustments.
To attract colleagues from some minority groups and support them once they have joined, the Rise and Elevate schemes offer additional coaching before, during and after participation. The Rise and Elevate schemes are part of a much broader talent offer (including other schemes such as Step Up and Step Across and a pilot programme Aspire) that supports the development of diverse talent and provides under-represented groups with the tools to progress into more senior grades. We also actively take part in the wider government talent schemes detailed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-talent-management/civil-service-talent-management
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3734 on Ministry of Defence: Employment Schemes, what steps he is taking to evaluate the effectiveness of the (a) Rise and (b) Elevate schemes.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Both the Rise and Elevate schemes are in their pilot years and monitoring is primarily through qualitative assessment. Interviews, feedback sessions and surveys are conducted with participants, their managers and alumni and are combined with existing promotion information. This data is used by team members experienced in running development programmes to monitor progress, ensure consistent quality and make scheme improvements.
The effectiveness of the programmes will be evaluated using the time taken to gain promotion relative to peers not on the schemes. So far multiple Rise alumni have been promoted and of those some have been promoted two grades. Since starting the pilot Elevate scheme (ongoing until June 2024) six participants have been promoted to Grade 7. We consider this data provides a strong and positive early sign that the scheme is achieving its goals.
The Ministry of Defence is able to comprehensively track the careers of scheme alumni. Over the next few years this will enable the accurate measurement of the effectiveness of both the Rise and Elevate schemes.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3734 on Ministry of Defence: Employment Schemes, how many and what proportion of people who participated in the (a) Rise and (b) Elevate schemes have since left his Department.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The number and proportion of women who participated in Rise and Elevate schemes since their launch in 2021 are as follows:
Rise
In 2021, 15 women (approximately 65% of scheme participants) took part in the first cohort of the Rise scheme. One subsequently left the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
In 2022, 35 women (approximately 73% of scheme participants) took part in the second cohort of the Rise scheme. One subsequently left the MOD.
Elevate
The Elevate scheme lasts for two years so the same cohort participated in both 2021 and 2022. 13 women (approximately 43% of scheme participants) took part and none have left the MOD.
Of those participating in Rise and Elevate during 2021 and 2022, five have left the MOD: three from Rise and two from Elevate out of 101 total participants. This is approximately 5%.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to increase employers' engagement with its employment schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.
Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to advertise its employment schemes to employers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.
Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 1648 on Employment Schemes: Chronic Illnesses and Disability, if he will provide an anticipated timeline for the publication of that information.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The main phase of Universal Support is in the early stages of development. As part of this, we are considering the information that will be published.
Correspondence Sep. 19 2023
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: Executive and First, Permanent Secretary, HMRC, re Treasury Minute response – Fortieth Report: COVID employment
Written Evidence Apr. 25 2024
Inquiry: Devolution of employment supportFound: DES0003 - Devolution of employment support Spydr Network Written Evidence
Written Evidence Apr. 25 2024
Inquiry: Devolution of employment supportFound: DES0025 - Devolution of employment support Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and South Yorkshire