Jobcentre Plus and National Careers Service: Merger

Baroness Boycott Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I will leave the Opposition to account for their own record. Let me talk about what this Government are doing. Our Connect to Work programme is one of the most exciting things we have seen. We are working with people who face real challenges in getting into work, often because of a particularly strong health condition or complex disabilities. Our individual advisers will work with them, find out what their skills and ambitions are, and then find an employer with an opportunity to match them with. They can help them work together. It is about getting people into jobs but also supporting them to stay in them once they are there. It is that kind of personalised support that people need. Everybody has an opportunity and everybody has potential; our job is to find it and help them fulfil it.

[Baroness Boycott (CB)]

This is very encouraging. Has the Minister had any conversations with organisations such as Feeding Britain, which I have been the chair of for a long time? We have almost 300 outlets and we supply all sorts of information. Maybe there is a way we could link up, as well as linking up with food banks, where a lot of people go who do not have jobs.

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for that suggestion. I now lead on poverty in my department, so it would be useful for me to have a conversation with her about some of these questions. When the new service is up and running from 1 October, we want to make sure that everybody knows what help is out there, so any ways in which we can get information out are very much welcome.