Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2025 to Question 32770 Employment: Special Educational Needs, whether her Department has identified West London as one of the trailblazer areas for the Youth Guarantee scheme.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Youth Guarantee Trailblazers will test a new, more localised delivery framework to help young people access education, training and employment support, providing important learnings to inform the future development of the Youth Guarantee in England.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education are working closely with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to begin delivery of Youth Guarantee Traiblazers in the following areas: the West of England, Tees Valley, East Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands and two areas within the Greater London Authority. This will include parts of West London.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 potential economic impact of introducing the Youth Guarantee Scheme on (a) Greater London and (b) the UK.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced in the “Get Britain Working” White Paper, we are launching a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Youth Guarantee will build upon and enhance existing entitlements and provisions with the aim of tackling the rising number of young people who are not participating in education, employment or training. This spring we will be launching trailblazers in eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities, one of which is the Greater London Authority, and will use the learning from the Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls-out across the rest of England.
The additional employment, and education and training in which young people will participate, as a result of the Youth Guarantee, will bring economic benefits to the young people themselves and to wider society through earnings, economic output and through increased skills which open the way to longer term sustained employment.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 economically inactive people back into work in (a) West London and (b) other parts of London.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper published in November set out plans to deliver fundamental reform of our health, employment and skills system, that will help support economically inactive people in all areas in England get back into work.
We committed to:
The Greater London area will host several Trailblazers, covering both inactivity and youth. This will involve working closely with a range of local partners, including those based in West London. Additional funding will also be given to the Greater London Authority to support the development of their local Get Britain Working plan, to cover the four sub-regional London partnership areas delivering Connect to Work.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 with SEND needs into employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions are supporting many young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to find employment.
The government will be launching a Youth Guarantee for all 18-21 year olds in England, to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. This will start with eight trailblazers, which are launching this spring, and testing localised approaches to supporting young people, which could include those with SEND.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will include measures to tackle child homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
The Taskforce’s publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we are developing the Strategy, exploring all available levers across Government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty this parliament. This is part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change which will be published in the Spring.
The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
The Taskforce will hear directly from experts on each of the Strategy’s themes including children and families living in poverty and work with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners. In December, the Taskforce met with external experts from the housing sector to discuss the critical role of housing in tackling child poverty. The Ministerial session was the first in a series of deep dives into specific policy areas; the focus of this session was on parental employment, childcare and housing.