Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much money from dormant funds has been transferred to (a) the National Lottery Community Fund and (b) non-profit organisations in the last 10 years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Since the Dormant Asset Scheme’s inception in 2011, £982 million has been transferred to The National Lottery Community Fund to tackle financial exclusion and problem debt; break down barriers to work for young people; and invest in charities and social enterprises, particularly in more deprived areas. As of February 2024, £771 million has been apportioned to England.
Funding for the English portion is distributed through four independent organisations, to deliver the Scheme’s initiatives. These organisations draw down from their allocations annually, according to need. Up to and including the 2023/24 financial year, the Secretary of State has allocated the following sums in England:
Youth Futures Foundation has been allocated £125 million;
Fair4All Finance has been allocated £145 million;
Big Society Capital has been allocated £444 million; and
Access - The Foundation for Social Investment has been allocated £73 million.
These allocations include support for initiatives such as £15 million to expand the No Interest Loan Scheme to reach 69,000 more people and £15 million for the Building Futures Programme, supporting young people at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the value is of dormant funds transferred to (a) the National Lottery Community Fund and (b) other organisations in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Since the Dormant Asset Scheme’s inception in 2011, £982 million has been transferred to The National Lottery Community Fund to tackle financial exclusion and problem debt; break down barriers to work for young people; and invest in charities and social enterprises, particularly in more deprived areas. As of February 2024, £771 million has been apportioned to England.
Funding for the English portion is distributed through four independent organisations, to deliver the Scheme’s initiatives. These organisations draw down from their allocations annually, according to need. Up to and including the 2023/24 financial year, the Secretary of State has allocated the following sums in England:
Youth Futures Foundation has been allocated £125 million;
Fair4All Finance has been allocated £145 million;
Big Society Capital has been allocated £444 million; and
Access - The Foundation for Social Investment has been allocated £73 million.
These allocations include support for initiatives such as £15 million to expand the No Interest Loan Scheme to reach 69,000 more people and £15 million for the Building Futures Programme, supporting young people at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's spend on the youth offer was in the last financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Previously, the Youth Offer was only available for those searching for work. As of the 25 September 2023, this been expanded to include to include additional young people on Universal Credit not currently searching for work, including young parents and carers.
The information regarding the Department’s total spend on the Youth Offer is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The information regarding the Department’s spend on grants to support the opening and operation of Youth Hubs in each financial year since they were launched is not held.
The indicative Youth Hub Work Coach costs for the previous three financial years are:
2020/2021 - £1.1m
2021/2022 - £5.4m
2022/2023 - £4.8m
NB:
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce youth unemployment in Hornsey and Wood Green consitutency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Within the Haringey and Wood Green constituency, we have a dedicated Youth Work Coach Team across our Jobcentres. This team spends two days a week co-located within the Rising Green Youth Hub, based in Wood Green, to dedicate extra support to young people within the borough to address barriers and move them closer to employment. We also hold regular ‘Young People Jobs fairs’ focused on the sectors and employers young people are interested in. To do this we involve a variety of employers and partners into the Jobcentres and Youth Hub to engage and support this group.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people from low social-economic backgrounds into employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
DWP is a strong champion for social mobility. We have established the Social Mobility Pledge Consortium in partnership with TalkTalk. The pledge asks businesses to make measurable commitments to diversify the backgrounds of their workforce and help vulnerable people in to work. Nearly 120 employer signatories have made the pledge over the last year.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help unemployed young people into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Previously, the Youth Offer was only available for those searching for work. As of the 25 September 2023, this been expanded to include to include additional young people on Universal Credit not currently searching for work, including young parents and carers.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support youth employment schemes such as UK Year of Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK Year of Service is one of several youth employment schemes announced and part funded by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). We have been working with DCMS and the National Citizen Service Trust to ensure the scheme achieves the best outcomes for the young people it will support. This includes exploring opportunities to join-up and build on the Department for Work and Pensions’ positive relationship with employers, and by sharing knowledge and evidence related to supporting young people in to work.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2023 to Question 2118 on Music: education, what the cost to the public purse was of (a) consultations and (b) legal advice on proposals to change the structure of music education hubs.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As set out in the Answer to Question 2118, as part of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education, published in June 2022, the government set out its intention to re-compete the hubs lead organisation (HLO) role and reduce the number of HLOs. Alongside these reforms, the Department also committed significant funding for the Music Hubs programme, with £79 million per annum revenue funding to academic year 2024/25 and an additional £25 million capital for instruments and musical equipment.
Music Hubs are partnerships co-ordinated by a HLO and made up of schools and academy trusts, local authorities, music and wider arts and education organisations and charities, community or youth organisations, and more. When launched in 2012, there were 123 Music Hubs covering the 152 upper-tier local authority (LA) areas in England. Following various transfers and restructures over the last ten years, there are now 118 HLOs: 98 covering single LA areas and 20 covering multi-LA areas. These changes reflect the approach which other similar initiatives and infrastructure that are relevant to the lives of children and young people have taken, including Teaching School Hubs, English and Maths Hubs, Multi Academy Trusts, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Sport England’s Active Partnerships.
Having 43 HLOs working across a wider set of music education partnerships from September 2024 should bring significant benefits to children, young people and schools, as HLOs will be able to more strategic, building stronger partnerships with schools, academy trusts, local authorities and others, resulting in high quality support in every local area and to ensure there are no local ‘cold spots’ where access to provision is limited. This should also support a more consistent high quality approach to music education for all children regardless of where they live or go to school, by offering:
The current Music Hubs investment programme led by Arts Council England (ACE) is due to conclude next year, with newly competed HLOs commencing from September 2024. In relation to costs competition and legal costs to date, the department has provided funding to ACE to deliver the investment programme and, as part of this programme, ACE has spent a total of £21,000 on consultation and legal advice. The department has also sought specialist legal advice in relation to aspects of the competition, and has spent a total of £29,000.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the attrition rate was for staff in the youth custody service in each reporting year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The leaving rates of staff who work in prisons currently part of the Youth Custody Service are given in the table below.
We are looking into the increase in attrition via the retention oversight and exit interview processes so that appropriate interventions can be put in place. The retention oversight process was introduced in August 2022 to target priority sites, these include establishments with the highest attrition rates and those that are a cause for concern due to increasing attrition.
In late 2021, HM Prison Service launched a retention tool kit to help Governors to tackle the main drivers of attrition in their prisons. We are using the data from this and enhanced exit interviews to better understand why employees are leaving.
HM Prison Service made a significant investment in pay for prison staff through the 2023/24 pay awards. This delivered an increase in base pay of at least 4% for all staff between bands 2 to 11, alongside further targeted pay rises for our lowest paid staff of up to £2,500 which we hope will help in reducing leaving rates.
Since April 2022, HM Prison Service have invested in several new initiatives to improve the experience of our new joiners and increase retention of our employees. These include a new peer-to-peer learning scheme, the introduction of mentors for new staff, a supervision pilot in two prisons, and new leadership training in prisons facing retention challenges.
Table 1: Underlying leaving rate of permanent staff in Youth Custody Estate, for 12 months to 31 March each year since 2010, and latest position as at 30 September 2023
12 Months to | Leavers | Average staff in post | Leaving rate |
31/03/2010 | 74 | 1,510 | 4.9% |
31/03/2011 | 80 | 1,505 | 5.3% |
31/03/2012 | 68 | 1,505 | 4.5% |
31/03/2013 | 101 | 1,451 | 7.0% |
31/03/2014 | 111 | 1,351 | 8.2% |
31/03/2015 | 139 | 1,253 | 11.1% |
31/03/2016 | 134 | 1,266 | 10.6% |
31/03/2017 | 146 | 1,333 | 11.0% |
31/03/2018 | 148 | 1,416 | 10.5% |
31/03/2019 | 158 | 1,684 | 9.4% |
31/03/2020 | 198 | 1,730 | 11.4% |
31/03/2021 | 121 | 1,558 | 7.8% |
31/03/2022 | 196 | 1,604 | 12.2% |
31/03/2023 | 275 | 1,621 | 17.0% |
30/09/2023(p) | 294 | 1,645 | 17.9% |
Notes
1. Leaving rate is calculated as number of leavers by as a proportion of an average of all permanent staff in post.
2. The leavers figures do not include voluntary early departure or redundancy.
3. Permanent staff are those with a permanent contract of employment with HMPPS.
4. The Youth Custody Service (YCS), created in April 2017 to oversee day-to-day management of young people up to 18 years of age in the young people’s estate. Youth Custody Estate includes the following prisons: Cookham Wood, Feltham, Werrington, Wetherby and Medway Secure Training Centre (which closed in March 2020)
5. Internal transfers within HMPPS are not included.
(p) Figures relating to current financial year are provisional and may be subject to change in future.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the attrition rate was for ethnic minority staff in the youth secure estate in each reporting year since 2010.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The leaving rates of staff who declared their ethnicity and who work in prisons currently part of the Youth Custody Service are given in the table below.
In late 2021, HM Prison Service launched a retention tool kit to help Governors to tackle the main drivers of attrition in their prisons. We are using the data from this and enhanced exit interviews to better understand why employees are leaving.
HM Prison Service made a significant investment in pay for prison staff through the 2023/24 pay awards. This delivered an increase in base pay of at least 4% for all staff between bands 2 to 11, alongside further targeted pay rises for our lowest paid staff of up to £2,500 which we hope will help in reducing leaving rates.
Since April 2022, HM Prison Service have invested in several new initiatives to improve the experience of our new joiners and increase retention of our employees. These include a new peer-to-peer learning scheme, the introduction of mentors for new staff, a supervision pilot in two prisons, and new leadership training in prisons facing retention challenges.
Table 1: Underlying leaving rate of permanent staff in Youth Custody Estate, by declared ethnicity, for 12 months to 31 March each year since 2010, and latest position as at 30 September 2023
12 Months to | Ethnic minority leavers | Ethnic minority average staff in post | Ethnic minority leaving |
31/03/2010 | 5 | 162 | 3.1% |
31/03/2011 | 9 | 165 | 5.4% |
31/03/2012 | 6 | 160 | 3.8% |
31/03/2013 | 6 | 159 | 3.8% |
31/03/2014 | 8 | 148 | 5.4% |
31/03/2015 | 16 | 136 | 11.7% |
31/03/2016 | 5 | 131 | 3.8% |
31/03/2017 | 14 | 138 | 10.1% |
31/03/2018 | 11 | 136 | 8.1% |
31/03/2019 | 6 | 157 | 3.8% |
31/03/2020 | 27 | 207 | 13.1% |
31/03/2021 | 18 | 207 | 8.7% |
31/03/2022 | 22 | 216 | 10.2% |
31/03/2023 | 49 | 232 | 21.1% |
30/09/2023(p) | 55 | 249 | 22.1% |
Notes
(p) Figures relating to current financial year are provisional and may be subject to change in future.