Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2021 to Question 186286 on the Kickstart Scheme, what steps she is taking to help reduce the gap between the number of Kickstart (a) placements advertised and (b) jobs started in each sector.

The Department for Work and Pensions continues to work with employers to ensure their job vacancies are the right fit for the young people eligible for the Kickstart Scheme. Our work coaches are working hard to ensure quality referrals are made to Kickstart vacancies by engaging with young people to make sure that they are referred to a role that is suitable for them. Once a referral is made, the young person will need to apply for the job as detailed in the vacancy advert by the employer. The young person can access support at the application stage through their work coach if they require it. Employers will then shortlist and recruit successful young people into Kickstart jobs.

As of the 6^th May 2021, 108,000 Kickstart jobs have been made available to young people eligible for the scheme. Over 20,000 young people have now started in a Kickstart job and over the last four weeks an average of 400 young people started in their Kickstart job each working day.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.