Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to tackle the comparatively high rates of unemployment among adults from (a) Black and (b) Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups in each (i) region and (ii) nation of the UK.

In 2015 the Government made a commitment to increase the level of ethnic minority employment by 20% by 2020. Since then, 556,000 more people from ethnic minority backgrounds are in employment, a 17% increase. The Black/African/Caribbean unemployment rate of 8.4% is the lowest it has been since this series began in 2001 as is the Pakistani and Bangladeshi unemployment rate of 7.7%.

We know there is more to do following the Race Disparity Audit in 2017 which revealed a gap in employment rates between ethnic minority groups and the overall population. The Department has been addressing this by maximising the effectiveness of our jobcentres and influencing the behaviour of employers in supporting ethnic minority jobseekers into employment.

For example, the Department identified 20 challenge areas across Great Britain to work with that have a large gap between ethnic minority and white employment rates. We have delivered mentoring circles in all 20 challenge areas which involve national employers offering specialised support to unemployed, ethnic minority jobseekers to help build their confidence and raise their aspirations. In January 2019, I announced that these mentoring circles will now be rolled out nationally from April 2019.

We also know from the Race Disparity Audit that gender matters, even more so for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi group, where employment rates for females is less than half of White groups. To help overcome this barrier, in September we started trialling a programme with Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in Birmingham. The women participated in workshops to explore the benefits of becoming work ready and the financial incentives for their families in taking up paid employment. We will use this learning to help determine how we can deliver similar programmes across the Jobcentre network in 2019.

[Figures are all based on averages from January 2018 – December 2018 (Labour Force Survey, ONS) for the UK.]