Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to tackle labour market shortages in Newport West constituency.

We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live. Through our Plan for Jobs, the government announced over £33 billion in measures to create, support and protect jobs, which includes £2.9 billion funding for Restart and £3 billion investment in the Kickstart programme alongside other measures focussed on boosting work search, skills and apprenticeships.

Alongside measures in Plan for Jobs, DWP is leading cross-government collaboration to identify and remove barriers to working in sectors with immediate or growing demand for jobs. We continue to work closely with these departments and sector bodies to identify and address barriers facing DWP customers and to ensure the provision is available to support individuals to access opportunities in these sectors. We work closely with a range of departments to shape skills support to enable individuals to develop the skills needed in order to move to roles in different sectors.

In addition, the local Jobcentre team are currently supporting the recruitment of a significant number vacancies in the Newport area and continue to build on these opportunities with employers to support claimants in their movement to work. The Jobcentre team continually engages with local employers, supporting recruitment drives and promoting the use of the Jobcentre for recruitment events. Some of the larger employers they are currently supporting include; Tesco, RF Brooks, McDonald’s, Trinity FM, Celtic Manor and TK Maxx.