Lord Lucas
Main Page: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
As I have explained, what we are doing and what we intend to do is to take away something that was always going to be temporary and invest in making sure that these families get good jobs for the future.
Lord Lucas (Con) [V]
My Lords, I congratulate the Government on their Restart programme, but surely a year of unemployment before that kicks in is not necessary in the case of an enforced career change—for example, returnees from looking after children or those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by Covid.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
My noble friend is probably talking about the Restart programme, which looks at referrals on a case-by-case basis with work coaches and can restart jobs for people who have lost jobs through the Covid pandemic. Those work coaches will look for the most appropriate route for an individual. These could be people who now need a career change. The other option for those having to change career could be the sector-based work academy programme, which also looks to invest in reskilling. This offers up to six weeks of training, work experience and a guaranteed interview for a real job to claimants in England and Scotland.