Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in Romford constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the constituency and across the London Borough of Havering, the local Romford Jobcentre team are supporting residents into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, Job Fairs, and work trials.
The weekly job club in Romford Jobcentre provides support on CV preparation, job applications and interview techniques, along with information sessions on a range of subjects to help customers into work, including information about different employment sectors, advice on childcare, support for those with additional health needs and motivational sessions.
The Jobcentre provides a bespoke service to employers, to match and screen candidates, and offers regular Job Fairs focussed on specific sectors and customer groups, with recent events to coincide with older workers week and national apprenticeship week. The team are also working with the London Borough of Havering to develop local support.
In partnership with the College of North East London we have recently offered SWAPs for local customers to gain skills and enhance their applications for the Logistics and Warehouse sectors. Care Provider Voices deliver a range of adult social care opportunities, with Springboard offering opportunities in the hospitality sector.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support women experiencing menopause in the workplace.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Health and Social Care continue to identify menopause as a priority area in the second year of the Women’s Health Strategy, and Government more widely sees women’s health, and particularly menopause, as an essential factor when supporting the recruitment and retention of older women in the workforce.
Helen Tomlinson - Head of Talent (UK & Ireland) at The Adecco Group - was appointed to the voluntary role of Government’s Menopause Employment Champion on 6 March 2023 by the Department for Work and Pensions and is working closely with the Minister for Disabled People, Health & Work. The Menopause Champion is driving awareness of issues surrounding menopause in the workplace; encouraging employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to help women stay in work and progress.
On World Menopause Day (18 October 2023), Government launched the Menopause Resources Hub on the Help to Grow portal - new guidance providing businesses, large and small, with the resources they need to help educate their organisation and workers about the menopause.
The report “No Time to Step Back” summarises the work of Helen Tomlinson in the first six months after her appointment and highlights progress made by businesses during this time. The Menopause Employment Champion’s 12-month progress report “shattering the silence about the Menopause” is due to be published on International Women’s Day.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 26 on Employment: Older People, what the cost to the public purse was for midlife MOTs in each year since 2019.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Autumn 2021 budget, DWP secured more than £22m to deliver an enhanced 50+ offer. This included £5m to expand and improve the Midlife MOT by delivering Midlife MOTs through our network of Jobcentre Plus offices and launching a private sector pilot delivered via providers, in three areas (the North East of England; Cornwall & Devon; and East Anglia).
As part of the Government’s continued commitment to support older workers, the Spring Budget 2023 set out a significant, wide-ranging package of DWP measures that represent an investment of £3.5bn over 5 years to boost workforce participation. This includes investment to support over-50s, including the expansion of the Jobcentre Plus Midlife MOT and an enhanced digital Midlife MOT offer.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage businesses to employ (a) unemployed and (b) retired people aged over 60.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Default Retirement Age was abolished in 2011, most people can work for as long as they choose to, and the Government is committed to ensuring that employers are aware of the wealth of skills and experience that older workers bring to the workplace.
The Department for Work and Pensions engages with employers to encourage positive attitudes towards older workers. The Government appointed Andy Briggs as the Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers who spearheads work to promote the benefits of older workers and having multigenerational workforces to employers across England, and the adoption of suitable work practices to increase the retention, retraining and recruitment of older workers.
In March 2023, the Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression announced the appointment of Helen Tomlinson, as the Government’s Menopause Employment Champion, to drive awareness of issues surrounding the menopause and work and encourage employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to support women to stay in work, progress or re-join the labour market.
The Department has signed the Age-friendly employer pledge, a nationwide programme run by the Centre for Ageing Better to promote age inclusive working practices. In turn, the National Employment and Partnership Team (NEPT) are engaging with employers and promoting the pledge to encourage others to sign up too.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to reduce age discrimination against older people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Age discrimination against older people that cannot be objectively justified is unacceptable and unlawful across a range of fields under the Equality Act 2010. It is the strong protections in the 2010 Act that enable older people and their representatives to challenge such unlawful behaviour and ultimately seek redress in the courts or, in the case of older workers, an employment tribunal.
In addition, as regards to the public sector, the Public Sector Equality Duty places a duty on Government Departments, local authorities, the NHS and other bodies to have due regard to meeting equality requirements, including to eliminate unlawful age discrimination, where this is relevant to their policies and activities.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of funding for apprenticeship training for people over the aged of 18.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Apprenticeships provide people with a unique opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to start, enhance, or change careers. The department currently offers high-quality apprenticeship routes into more than 660 occupations and is providing £2.7 billion of funding by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers to take up these opportunities. In the 2021/22 academic year, 349,000 people started an apprenticeship, and of these, 271,600 were aged 19 or over. In addition, 92% of apprentices go into further work or training, with 90% in sustained employment upon completion of their programme.
We provide additional financial support for employers and training providers who take on apprentices aged under 19, those aged 19 to 24 who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, and those who have been in care. In each case, the employer and provider receive a payment of £1,000 to help meet the cost of additional support that these apprentices may require. For those apprentices under the age of 25 who have been in local authority care, they are entitled to a care leavers bursary of £1,000, which will rise to £3,000 from 1 August 2023.
The department is taking a range of actions to encourage uptake of apprenticeships among adults. This includes UCAS expanding their service from this autumn so that those exploring higher education routes can see more personalised options, including degree apprenticeships. From 2024, students will then be able to apply for apprenticeships alongside degrees.
In addition, we are promoting apprenticeships to older adults looking to return to the labour market or to retrain. These opportunities, called returnerships, bring together apprenticeships, skills bootcamps, and sector-based work academies. Returnerships will raise awareness of these pathways, providing a clear route back into work and encouraging employers to hire older workers.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2023 to Question 180649 on Employment: Older People, if he will publish further details of the ways in which his Department and The Business Champion for Older Workers engage with employers to promote the benefits of older workers to business.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Business Champion for Older Workers co-chairs, with the Minister for Employment, a roundtable of employer organisations to influence and drive change in employer attitudes and practices. As a result of the roundtable’s work, the Government recently appointment Helen Tomlinson as the Menopause Employment Champion, who will drive awareness of issues surrounding the menopause and work, encouraging employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to help women stay in work and progress.
The Business Champion for Older Workers, Andy Briggs, spearheads the Government’s work to promote the benefits of older workers and multigenerational workforces to employers across England, and provide them with practical advice.
The Government is also supporting Private Members’ Bills on the importance of flexible working and unpaid carers leave for supporting older workers to stay in work.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Skills Builder Partnership report entitled Essential Skills Tracker 2023, published March 2023, which found that moving from the lower quartile essential skill score to the upper quartile essential skill score is associated with a wage premium of between 9.4 per cent and 12 per cent, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to use the same skills taxonomies in schools as in job centres.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Skills Builder Partnership report entitled Essential Skills Tracker 2023, published March 2023, which found that older workers tend to have lower levels of essential skills, if she will take steps to promote and benchmark essential skills as standard in (a) apprenticeships, (b) Skills Bootcamps, (c) the sector-based work academy programme and (d) the Returnerships programme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including:
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Skills Builder Partnership report entitled Essential Skills Tracker 2023, published March 2023, which found that 17 per cent of workers do not manage to break out of a cycle of low education, basic skills and essential skills, what steps she is taking to help upskill this group.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has an ambitious skills agenda, backed by £3.8 billion of investment. The department is using this to build a skills system that is employer focused, high quality, and fit for the future.
Our skills reforms provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to attain good jobs and progress in their careers. This begins with the opportunities and social justice needed to access excellent education and skills training. This will help more people to achieve secure, sustained, and well-paid employment and provide opportunities for individuals to progress in their careers.
The department funds a range of programmes and services which help learners develop the skills that employers want, including: