Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to publish the Equality Impact Assessment on the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions plans to publish the Equality Impact Assessment on the Kickstart Scheme in due course.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of job (a) losses and (b) insecurity as a result of the covid-19 outbreak on Black, Asian and ethnic minority young people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data from the Annual Population Survey shows a rise of 5.2 percentage points year on year in the unemployment rate for BAME young people. It also suggests they are over-represented in sectors such as Accommodation and Food Services and Wholesale and Retail which have been particularly affected by the pandemic.
The Government is committed to levelling up and uniting the country, including improving the employment outcomes of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Throughout these unprecedented times the Government has provided a crucial safety net to record levels of claimants, ensuring all our customers receive the support they need, when they need it.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to extend the Kickstart Scheme until 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to extend the Kickstart Scheme. Eligible young people will be able to start new Kickstart jobs until December 2021, meaning the final cohort of six-month jobs will end in Summer 2022.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support young people from marginalised groups entering employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to providing support to help all young people move into work and avoid the scarring effects of unemployment, as we recover from the Covid pandemic.
Youth Employability Coaches are providing flexible support to young people with significant complex needs and barriers to help them move into employment and offering six weeks of in-work support when they start work. This support is one element of the DWP Youth Offer, alongside the Youth Employment Programme and Youth Hubs designed to support young people enter the labour market.
In addition, the Kickstart scheme is available for young people aged 16-24, on Universal Credit and at risk of long term unemployment. Work Coaches refer eligible young people to Kickstart jobs and support them through the application process.
DWP also have a national programme of mentoring circles, involving employers offering specialised support to young (16-24 years old), unemployed, ethnic minority jobseekers. These provide customers with an opportunity to build confidence and job search skills, whilst at the same time helping employers understand and revise their recruitment practices. As a result of Covid-19, we are additionally delivering virtual Mentoring Circles sessions to comply with national lockdown and social distancing guidelines.
Young people identified as being involved or at risk of being involved in gangs or serious violence are recognised as a priority group and eligible for early entry to the Work and Health Programme in England and Wales. In addition, Jobcentres work with local partners to provide local support to suit individuals' needs.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of people with epilepsy entering employment.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has put in place a range of measures to support disabled people and people with long term health conditions, including those with epilepsy, to enter and stay in work. During the Covid-19 outbreak, we have made changes to ensure disabled people have still been able to access specialist employment support.
We have two large-scale nationally contracted programmes that support disabled people:
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we provided this support remotely and made these programmes easier to access by allowing self-referrals as well as referrals through work coaches.
Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced the Work and Health Programme Job Entry: Targeted Support (JETS) which went live across Wales and England this Autumn and provides light touch employment support which will complement the provision already available for disabled people under the Work and Health Programme. We will protect funding and capacity for helping disabled people and priority disadvantaged groups.
Alongside provision aimed at individuals, we continue to support employers to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace through the Disability Confident scheme. The scheme was designed as a journey with three levels. All employers start at Level 1, progressing through the scheme at their own pace.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any formal training criteria exist as part of the Government's Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Guidance for what the employability support should include can be found on the Kickstart gov.uk pages. We carefully assess each bid to ensure Kickstart jobs also support young people to develop basic work skills and build their experience.
The £1500 grant for support can be spent in any way that makes a young person more employable but must be detailed in their bid; this could include payment for equipment, training and/or uniform. Full details of this can be found on the Kickstart gov.uk site.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2020 to Question 103536, how many spot checks have been carried out to ensure placement quality as part of the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Enhanced Checking Service currently carry out a pre-payment spot check on all Kickstart jobs as agreed by the grant funding agreement. Where required, deeper investigation is conducted into the quality of the job placement and young person’s experience.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2021 to Question 140162, how many Kickstart jobs have been confirmed through grant agreements with the employer and uploaded as a vacancy through jobcentres.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 04/02/2021 there were around 15,000 jobs uploaded to Job Centre Plus provision service.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the £2 billion budget for the Kickstart scheme has been allocated to participating businesses.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There have been over 100,000 job placements approved and offers made for funding from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme. A Kickstart employer receives funding when a young person starts their placement and periodically through the length of their placement.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is planning to collect data on the proportion of jobs created as part of the Kickstart scheme, allocated to young people with a disability.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions will track the success of Kickstart amongst young people on the scheme who have a disability or health condition and will aim to do this as part of the evaluation. We plan to do this using a combination of evidence sources including management information (Universal Credit claimants are asked if they have an illness, disability or health condition and we can link to other datasets to see if they are on any kind of disability benefits) and survey data.