Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support unemployed young people; and what plans she has to support job mobility.

The Government has provided an unprecedented economic support package to protect and create jobs, including a particular focus on young people.

The DWP Youth Offer provides wrap-around support to young people aged 18-24 who are in the intensive work search regime of Universal Credit and was introduced as part of the wider UK government Plan for Jobs package. It has been developed to combat youth unemployment and ensure that young people have the skills they need to look for, find and keep employment.

Through the Youth Employment Programme young people receive intensive Work Coach support and every young person is encouraged to take part in a wide range of work based opportunities including Kickstart placements, Sector Based Work Academy Programmes, traineeships, Mentoring Circles or apprenticeships, which can be taken up at any point in the 13-week programme.

This sits alongside Youth Hubs that are co-located and co-delivered with external partners to support young people with skills gaps, and Youth Employability Coaches that help those with significant complex needs and barriers into the labour market.

We currently have over 135 new Youth Hubs physically open to support young people across Great Britain and 150 Youth Employability Coaches, delivering tailored employment & skills support for those most at risk of longer term unemployment.

To support job mobility for people of all ages, we are supporting claimants to access the skills and training opportunities delivered by the Department for Education and devolved Governments, through our DWP Train and Progress initiative across Great Britain. This includes the expansion of the successful Sector-based Work Academy Programme in England and Scotland. Where it will help people into work, DWP claimants can access sector-specific training provided as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, including L3 Skills Boot camps of up to 16 weeks’ full time while remaining on benefit.

Additionally, we recognise that people need the skills and opportunities to progress, build their careers and increase their earnings. The independent In-Work Progression Commission published its report on the barriers to progression for those in persistent low pay on 1 July 2021. It makes a number of recommendations for the Government which we will consider carefully and respond to later in the year.