"My Lords, we are on track to merge the National Careers Service and Jobcentre Plus in England from 1 October 2026. The current annual cost to outsource the National Careers Service community-based contracts is £40 million. The cost of delivering the new service will depend on the number of employees …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"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, …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"I can indeed. I am very glad that the noble Baroness has asked this question, because it is really important. The whole point of merging the jobs and careers service is to bring these together in one place to make it easier for individuals who come in to get the …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, one of the great things about making sure that these services come into the jobcentres is that jobcentre services are right across the country. At the moment, the Department for Education contracts this careers service support out to prime contractors, which then contract regionally to community contractors. We …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"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 …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"I said in opening that the outsourced part of the current service, which is merging into the DWP, costs £40 million. As I explained, the final cost of that will depend on two things. We are in the middle of the process, where the staff who work for the various …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, I hope people would not just be turned away. We will always prioritise resources for those who need them most. One of the great things about the new service is that there are lots of different ways to get help. For example, those who are already in touch …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"The merger does not affect provision in schools—that remains the responsibility of the Department for Education—but I will make sure my colleagues have seen the report from the House of Lords committee and are addressing it. The merged service will be in a single place, so, for example, a work …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"That is a really important question. We have already been working very closely with them. For example, at a simple level, we reshaped Jobcentre Plus boundaries to align with mayoral authority boundaries. We are also working very closely with local authority and mayoral authority partners and with local community groups. …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"The noble Lord raises a very important point. I think there are two different questions. The careers advisers will continue to be careers advisers, who are appropriately qualified, and they will work closely with work coaches. The DWP has a range of support and learning for our staff to make …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech