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 trends in the level of long-term youth unemployment in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps he is taking to tackle long-term youth unemployment in those areas.

The sample size of the Annual Population Survey is too small to provide robust estimates of the trends in long-term youth unemployed in the areas identified.

The Government is committed to delivering targeted support for all young people, no matter what their start in life or the challenges they face, to give them the best chance of getting into work.

The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group

As well as the DWP Youth Offer, this support offer includes skills training, work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), mentoring circles and support funded through other organisations.

Skilled Jobcentre Youth Work Coaches are working harder than ever to help employers fill vacancies. It remains our top priority to match the right young jobseeker with the right job. Key to this is our three Coventry Jobcentres, one based at the Coventry Building Society (CBS) Arena, in North Coventry, continuing to host daily successful recruitment events for both local and national employers.

Sector-based Work Academy Programmes are also proving a vital tool in offering unemployed young people a route into employment. Through Pre-Employment Training, Work Experience and a Guaranteed Job Interview, these academies offer a successful and unique approach to recruitment. Employers currently working with us on this initiative are Coventry Rugby Club, Marriott Hotels, DHL, NHS, Premier Inn, Coop, Coventry City Council, Atalian Servest.

In Coventry Youth Hub, DWP are on site with local partner organisations to offer a range of services to young people in Coventry. We have two permanent Work Coaches co-located whose primary focus is to address barriers to work, motivate and move claimants closer to the labour market.

In the Progression to work program there is a Flexible Support Fund funded grant for St Giles to support 16 – 30 year olds who need support removing barriers to move them closer to work, to include NEETs (not in education employment or training), ex-offenders, those at risk of exploitation or gang violence.