Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Way to Work scheme in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency.
Answered by Julie Marson
We are unable to provide the number of movements into work during the Way to Work campaign for the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency as to produce this would incur disproportionate cost.
Whilst we cannot provide data at a constituency level, we can provide this data at a Jobcentre Plus (JCP) district geographical area. Hitchin and Harpenden constituency falls within Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire JCP District, we have therefore provided the movements into work that took place within that area during the campaign period. These will include movements that took place in other constituencies that fall within the same JCP district.
We estimate that 12,030 unemployed Universal Credit claimants in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire JCP District, moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and 30 June 2022.
This does not include movements into work from JSA claimants as they cannot be broken down to Jobcentre Plus District level. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency and timeliness
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on providing support to Ukrainian refugees to help find employment.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DWP Ministers meet regularly with their counterparts in the Home Office to discuss the ongoing support being provided to those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukrainian evacuees on either Homes for Ukraine or the Family Scheme have immediate access to the full range of DWP employment support and services at the point of a successful claim to benefit.
DWP Work Coaches are supporting individuals to identify suitable roles and access appropriate training through our Sector based work academies and other provision, including English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) training, and support through the range of Plan for Jobs provision.
A large number of employers have come forward in response to the situations in Afghanistan and Ukraine with job vacancies which are open to any potential applicant. These vacancies are shared across the Job Centre network and with Refugee Employment Network (REN) a charity who support organizations who help refugees find work.
Support from Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders and Visiting Officers is also available where complex needs are identified.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of job vacancies in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency as on 2 September 2022.
Answered by Julie Marson
Vacancies data produced by the ONS in partnership with Adzuna are indexed to February 2020. As of 26th August 2022, the index value for the East of England is 105.1, i.e. there are 5.1% more vacancies on the 26th of August 2022 than there were in February 2020. Please note there is no vacancies data for parliamentary constituencies nor published figures for the number of vacancies by region.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make a comparative assessment of levels of (a) employment, (b) unemployment and (c) economic activity in Hitchin and Harpenden constituency in the (i) 12 months prior to the covid-19 pandemic and (ii) most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Julie Marson
The information requested is published and available here.
Guidance for users can be found here.
Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Government's Plan for Jobs on (a) Hitchin and Harpenden and (b) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to supporting everyone who has been affected by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the labour market. We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live. To meet demand for Jobcentre’s services and to ensure that people looking for work receive the right support, DWP successfully recruited 13,500 new Work Coaches across the country.
Throughout the pandemic the UK Government has provided historic levels of support to the economy – a total of over £400 billion. This includes key DWP programmes as part of the Plan for Jobs, such as Restart and Kickstart alongside other measures to boost work searches, skills, and apprenticeships. Our support was in addition to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Our Plan for Jobs will be complemented by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK. As part of Plan for Jobs in England 137,600 jobs have been started through the Kickstart programme – with 11,600 of these being in the East of England.
We have also launched Way to Work - a concerted drive across the UK to help half a million currently out of work people into jobs by the end of June 2022.
Data for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22 shows that as of 27th March 2022, there was a total of 149,980 starts to a Sector Work Academy Programme (SWAP) nationally.
The employment rate in Hitchin and Harpenden has grown in recent years. Data from the independent Office for National Statistics shows that the employment rate was 81.8% in Hitchin and Harpenden in the latest data (covering Jan 2021-Dec 2021) compared to 75.8% before the pandemic (January 2019-December 2019).
Employment is growing in England – up 30,000 on the quarter and 310,000 on the year to stand at 27.510 million in Dec 2021-Feb 2022, according to ONS figures. Employment in England is up from a low in the pandemic of 27.186 million - though it is below its pre-COVID level, underlining the need for Way to Work to support more people into jobs.