Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 December 2025 on Support for Young People, HCWS1137, what evidence underpinned the selection of Birmingham & Solihull as a pilot area for the Jobs Guarantee; what assessment he has made of how differing labour market conditions in neighbouring areas such as Walsall and Sandwell will affect delivery outcomes; and if he will publish comparative data on long-term youth unemployment across the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is investing over £1.5 billion in tackling youth unemployment and inactivity, including £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. This will provide young people aged 16–24 with greater support into work and learning, including a Jobs Guarantee offering fully subsidised paid work for every 18–21-year-old on Universal Credit for 18 months.
The Jobs Guarantee will be fully rolled out Nationally in the Autumn 2026 with the aim of supporting 55,000 young people.
However, we know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of Phase 1 of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026, including Birmingham and Solihull. Across these six areas, we will deliver over 1000 job starts in the first six months, by funding six experienced partners. As the scheme will be ultimately rolled out across Great Britain labour market conditions in neighbouring areas will not impact delivery.
The six areas selected have some of the highest need for the Jobs Guarantee over the period and sufficient capacity at the Job Centre level to accommodate this initial phase. We have also selected a range of areas with a variety of geographies and labour markets to provide a test for the programme.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of skills funding announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on the adequacy of engineering, advanced manufacturing, logistics, construction and health and social care skills in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, Walsall and the West Midlands; and whether his Department plans to publish regional allocations for those programmes.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The budget announced over £1.5 billion of investment in employment and skills sup-port to fund the Youth Guarantee and reform the Growth and Skills Levy over the Spending Review period.
The Youth Guarantee means every young person can access support to earn or learn.
The Growth and Skills offer will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy. As part of the offer, new foundation apprentice-ships for young people were introduced in August 2025 alongside the ability to under-take shorter duration apprenticeships. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country, including in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency, Walsall and the West Midlands.
Further, providers nationwide are already funded to develop training aligned with local needs. In 2025/26, 67% of the £1.44 billion Adult Skills Fund was devolved to 13 Strategic Authorities for locally tailored provision, for example to support the delivery of Sector-Based Work Academies to meet the skilled workforce requirements of a wide range of sectors.
As set out in the Skills White Paper we are investing over £1 billion to support tens of thousands of jobs, in construction, defence, digital, engineering through skills pack-ages in key areas identified in the Industrial Strategy. This will help equip the work-force with the skills needed to drive innovation, fill industry shortages, and strengthen the UK’s economic and national resilience.
These measures will help to support provision in areas such as engineering, advanced manufacturing, logistics, construction and health and social care skills across the country.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the financial impact of future welfare spending on the economy.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We inherited from the previous administration a welfare system that forced too many people out of work and on to long-term benefits, while leaving millions of children in poverty. We have begun to address that through reforms to universal credit, increased employment support, more help for children in poverty and, now, a youth guarantee to offer work and training to young people who are unemployed.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of unemployment in the West Midlands.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is published and available at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
The estimated unemployment levels can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “labour force survey – national and regional – headline indicators (seasonally adjusted) (May 1992 to Sep 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant region (West Midlands) from the menu. The economic activity Variable needs to be set to “Total unemployed” (16 and over). The rate also needs to be selected in the ‘people/rate’ section.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of youth unemployment in the West Midlands.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is published and available at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
The estimated unemployment levels can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant region (West Midlands) from the menu, and the Variable set to “Unemployment rate - aged 16-24”.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of apprenticeship measures in the Autumn Budget 2025 on small and medium-sized employers in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency and the Black Country; and whether he plans to provide additional support to SMEs for apprenticeship reforms, levy transfers and administrative requirements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion over the Spending Review period for investment in employment and skills support, supporting more opportunities for young people and SMEs across England, including in the West Midlands. This includes an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships for young people, including a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. This investment will also fund an £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
In addition, we provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including the West Midlands, through nine regional networks which provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the skills measures in the Autumn Budget 2025 on adult learners in communities in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion over the Spending Review period for investment in employment and skills support, supporting more opportunities for young people and SMEs across England, including in the West Midlands. This includes an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships for young people, including a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. This investment will also fund an £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
In addition, we provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including the West Midlands, through nine regional networks which provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that apprenticeship funding announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 reaches high-demand sectors in the West Midlands.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion over the Spending Review period for investment in employment and skills support, supporting more opportunities for young people and SMEs across England, including in the West Midlands. This includes an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships for young people, including a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. This investment will also fund an £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
In addition, we provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including the West Midlands, through nine regional networks which provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the level of spending on health and disability benefits in 2030.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Forecast spending on disability and incapacity benefits in 2029-30 can be found in Table 4 of DWP’s Spring Statement 2025 Benefit Expenditure and Caseload publication.
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made on the review of the Personal Independence Payment assessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, to ensure that expertise from a wide range of perspectives is drawn upon.
On 30 October, I announced that I will co-chair the Review alongside Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. We will oversee a steering group responsible for leading the co-production process, setting the Review’s strategic direction, priorities and workplan. The group will be made up of a majority of disabled people or representatives of disabled people’s organisations and will be recruited through an open and transparent Expression of Interest (EOI) process. The EOI is now live and will run until 30 November.
The Review will report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for final decisions in autumn 2026, with an interim update expected ahead of that.