DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION (DFE) AND DEPARTMENT FOR WORK & PENSIONS (DWP) – SUPPLEMENTARY WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0084)
Youth Unemployment Committee inquiry
Questions from oral evidence session + Clerk
We would also be grateful for the following additional items of information:
Introduction
This paper responds to questions asked by the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Ad Hoc Committee during the 16 March evidence session attended by officials from the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions, and subsequent questions from the Clerk.
Geographical Scope
We recognise that certain policy areas explored within this response touch on matters that are the responsibility of the Devolved Administrations. Where the response below touches on devolved matters, this should be read as relating to England only.
For wider background:
We remain committed to working in partnership with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider how best to deliver support for young people.
Q1. Which Government Minister is responsible for Youth Unemployment
As stated during the hearing, the responsible Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions for Youth Unemployment is the Minister for Employment, Mims Davies.
Working with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Minister for Employment’s responsibilities include oversight of the design, delivery and implementation of DWP policies including the DWP Youth Offer, Kickstart as well as wider Plan for Jobs support for claimants of all ages.
As the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan contributes to the agenda on tackling Youth Unemployment with policy responsibility for those Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs). A key priority for Minister Keegan is to deliver the vision set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper, ensuring that DfE funded training leads people to good jobs.
During the session Lord Baker asked for examples of specific speeches that spoke to the root causes of Youth Unemployment.
DWP Secretary of State, Thérèse Coffey, discussed the issue of youth unemployment during the Spring Budget opening debate speech[1] and the Minister for Employment, Mims Davies, has covered the issue of youth unemployment at a number of events including providing evidence on DWP’s preparations for changes in the world of work[2]. The Minister for Employment also attended the G20 in September 2020, where she discussed global employment challenges.
The DfE Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan, has also spoken on the issue of youth unemployment at numerous events. Recent examples include the Minister’s speeches at the ‘Let’s get Britain Working Again’ event, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Skills and Employment.
For further details on the causes of youth unemployment please refer to our written response to the Committee’s public call for evidence.
Q2. Examples of specific engagement with young people and how they are used to develop policy into practice
There are many ways that departments engage with young people.
Engagement directly with young people through user research and evaluation
DWP has a programme of research involving engagement with young claimants aged 16 – 24 every 6 – 8 weeks.
The key aims of the research are to understand young peoples’:
Research and findings are fed back into teams leading on policy and implementation of the DWP Youth Offer and Kickstart for reflection as part of our continuous improvement efforts.
The Youth Offer is a development of the previous Youth Obligation Support Programme which included the Intensive Activity Period (IAP). Evaluation of the IAP showed that it increased people’s confidence, improved the quality of their job applications and increased their search for work. The Youth Offer has been enhanced from YOSP by extending participation from 18-21 year olds to 18-24 year olds. The offer is comprised of three distinct elements, each with a focus on different groups of young claimants, ranging on supporting those closest to the labour market and to those young people with complex needs.
The current Youth Offer is the wrap-around support programme which helps young people access so much of the positive provision stood up as part of the wider Plan for Jobs (alongside local work-related provision).
DWP has also implemented regular surveys to understand young people's experiences and attitudes towards the job market and DWP services. 2,500 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 took part in this Ipsos research between May 2020 and February 2021. These surveys will continue to provide DWP with valuable insight to support activity to help the youth population secure work.
Plans for evaluation involve hearing from young people and those working on the services they receive to understand their effectiveness and enable us to make improvements.
The DfE engage directly with young people through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) Programme, funded through the ESFA. To date, the ASK Programme has worked with over 4,000 educational establishments, and over 1.1million pupils and students to help them find out about Apprenticeships, Traineeships and T Levels.
Engagement through partner organisations:
Both DfE and DWP recognise the importance of understanding young people's experience of unemployment and the support they receive. We regularly hear from young people, often through events and sessions facilitated by stakeholders or partners.
Below are some illustrative examples. However, the Committee should note that these are not exhaustive.
This recently-launched partnership includes a panel of young people who have helped to inform the planning of our Youth Hubs in Greater Manchester. A recurring theme from discussions was the emphasis on having safe, physical spaces to access support from local partners (where they could use digital kit or get advice for future options).
Engagement through DfE’s Young Apprentice Ambassador Network
DfE’s Young Apprentice Ambassador Network[3] comprises young people representing all demographics and trains each ambassador to give presentations and to lead discussions confidently. As such, T Levels, apprenticeship, and traineeships will be represented at the virtual national careers guidance shows and the virtual skills shows in April 2021.
These engagements continue to help inform and influence delivery of support and future policy around young people and the support they receive from both Departments.
Q3. Feasibility of introducing automatic funding for Level 3 qualifications
The DfE already funds 16-19 education providers to deliver study programmes, including qualifications at Level 3. The system is driven by choice, meaning if a student wants to undertake a particular course and an institution is prepared to deliver it, then funding will be provided.
Furthermore, the Adult Education Budget supports legal entitlements to full funding for eligible adult learners for a first full Level 2 and a first full 3 qualifications for 19 to 23-year-olds.
From April 2021, we will support any adult aged 24 and over not possessing an advanced technical certificate, diploma, or equivalent qualification to access around 400 fully funded Level 3 courses. This Level 3 adult offer will be targeted on sector subject areas that have strong outcomes and that are linked to labour market need. The offer includes a range of qualifications that are valuable across the economy in multiple sectors, for example, digital skills, accountancy, and business skills.
Q4. Examples and details of schemes directly targeted towards vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, and how effectively they are working
How DfE support vulnerable and disadvantaged children
The Government is determined to ensure disadvantaged students are properly supported in their post-16 education at college or sixth form. The national funding formula for 16 to 19-year-olds includes extra funding for disadvantaged students. This funding is provided to institutions specifically for students with low prior attainment, or who live in the most disadvantaged areas.
In 2020/2021, we have allocated over £500 million to enable colleges, schools and other providers to support, attract and retain disadvantaged 16- to 19-year-olds and to support students with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
We have also allocated approximately £130m in 2020/21 to institutions for Discretionary Bursaries to help disadvantaged young people to access education and training, with a further £32 million allocated for free FE meals. In addition, the most vulnerable young people can receive up to £1,200 per year to support their participation costs.
As part of our work on the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper we have been engaging with key policy teams, including the National Skills Fund, Higher Technical Qualifications, T Levels, apprenticeships, Traineeships and the National Careers Service to understand how they interact and engage leaners, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, providers and employers and how they can work better together. We are planning further engagement as policies develop.
We allocated over £93m for 16-19 providers in the 2020/21 academic year, to provide small group tutoring activity for disadvantaged 16-19 students whose studies have been disrupted by Covid – and have extended this with further investment of up to £102m into the 2021/22 academic year. Our initial assessment, based on feedback from providers and reviews of the statements that providers must produce around how the funding has been used, is that the first round of the Tuition Fund was successful. Evidence[4] from FE sector representative bodies and individual providers of 16-19 education shows that there has been good and effective use of the Tuition Fund for individual and small group tuition. Data on the funding claimed and allocated by providers for the 20/21 academic year has most recently been published in response to a House of Commons written PQ[5].
We have appointed an Education Recovery Commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins, who will advise the Government on the approach for education recovery, with a particular focus on helping students catch up on learning lost because of the pandemic. We continue to work in collaboration with Sir Kevan and the education sector to help develop and implement long term solutions to mitigate lost learning.
Higher Education
All higher education (HE) providers wanting to charge higher level fees must have an Access and Participation Plan agreed by the Office for Students (OfS), setting out the measures they intend to take to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups to access and succeed in higher education. This includes groups such as care leavers and students with disabilities. Five-year plans have been agreed for academic years 2020/21 – 2024/25 and the OfS is monitoring these to ensure commitments are met.
In addition, the Strategic Priorities Grant allocates Student Premiums funding to support successful outcomes and additional funding for disabled students. The Grant will be reformed for 2021-22, with the DfE proposing re-prioritising some funding towards student hardship, mental health and wellbeing. The OfS has launched a public consultation on these reforms and will carefully consider the impacts of any changes on students and providers, before final allocations for 2021/22 are confirmed.
18-year-olds from disadvantaged background were 80% more likely to enter full-time HE in 2020 than in 2009. Furthermore, 2020 saw a record 25,820 disadvantaged English 18-year-olds enter HE, with an entry rate of 24%.
Young People with SEND
The SEND review, which will be published in the spring, will point to the importance of supporting children and young people with complex needs to secure positive outcomes, including employment.
One initiative is supported internships, a one-year study programme including extended work placements of at least six-months, for young people aged 16-24 with an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan needing extra support to gain employment. The most recent report in January 2020 showed that 2,231 young people were undertaking supported internships, an increase from 1,646 in 2019 and 1,186 in 2018.
Apprenticeships and traineeships for underrepresented and disadvantaged people
We want to ensure that apprenticeships benefit young people from all backgrounds including people with a learning difficulty or disability, people from black, Asian and ethnic minority? backgrounds and those leaving care, and we have taken steps to increase participation in apprenticeships by these groups.
We have taken forward recommendations from the Maynard Review[6] in 2016 and Mencap’s Access All Areas report[7] in 2019 to improve access for those with a learning difficulty or disability (LDD). The Government committed to improve the proportion of apprenticeship starts by those with a LDD by 20% to 12.1% by 2020. The proportion of starts by those with a LDD increased from 9.9% in 2015/16 to 12.5% in 2019/20.
We have measures in place that help to improve access, these include:
As people with disabilities currently have a lower overall achievement rate compared to apprentices overall, we are undertaking additional work to better support these apprentices.
The Government exceeded its target of increasing the proportion of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority apprentice starts by 20% to 12.1% by 2020. 13.3% of starts were by people of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds in 2019/20, compared to 12.5% in 2018/19 and 11.2% in 2017/18. Research[8] shows that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on those from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds, however apprentices from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds are more likely to enter apprenticeships at Level 4+, meaning that they are entering higher-value roles.
Of the 12,100 traineeship starts in 2019/20, 3,900 (32.1%) were from a Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority background. This is an increase from 28% in 2018/19. Furthermore, 65% (4,120) of learners from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds sustained a positive destination following completion of a traineeship.
In August 2018, the DfE introduced a bursary of £1,000, available to all care leavers aged 16 to 24. We also provide £1,000 to employers and training providers when they take on 19 to 24-year-olds who are care leavers. In addition, we pay 100% of training costs for the smallest employers (those with fewer than 50 employees) for these groups. To date, 683 care leaver bursaries have been paid, including 278 in 2018/19, 316 in 2019/20.
How DWP supports vulnerable and disadvantaged groups
DWP has increased the number of Work Coaches in Jobcentres by 13,500 to help provide the tailored support needed for jobseekers to find work. All our Work Coaches – including those delivering the DWP Youth Offer – work with local partners and have access to tools that help them understand vacancies, opportunities and skills needs. We have introduced Youth Employability Coaches (YECs) to work in Jobcentres across the country and provide flexible support to young people with significant complex needs.
Kickstart is open to all young people aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment. We work with employers to ensure that jobs offered through the scheme are inclusive and accessible to all eligible young people regardless of gender, race, or disability. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches will identify those young people most in need of the extra support offered by the Kickstart Scheme. As of the 6th of May, the Kickstart Scheme has created over 200,000 vacancies in a wide range of sectors, including engineering, construction, adult social care and retail.
For specific groups who are more likely to face disadvantages in the labour market:
Disabled People
Access to Work is a demand-led discretionary grant to contribute to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people and those with a health condition that are beyond reasonable adjustments, but it does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments.
The grant provides personalised support and can provide workplace assessments, travel to/in work, support workers, specialist aids and equipment for individuals to enable disabled people and those with a health condition to move into or retain employment.
In 2019/20 the highest ever number of people received payments (43,400 up 20% on 2018/19).
Access to Work can also help disabled people who need mental health support whilst in employment from a trained healthcare professional via the Mental Health Support Service. This support can be accessed remotely, with action plans and coping strategies developed via the telephone. Those with mental health conditions are now the biggest group helped by Access to Work. The number of people with a mental health condition to receive a payment has increased by 64% since 2018/19 (from 3,820 to 6,260).
During Covid-19, Access to Work has continued to provide funding for people with a disability or health condition whether they are working in the workplace or from home. This has included providing help to adapt support arrangements, e.g. switching from British Sign Language Interpreting to Video Remote Interpreting services, as well as supporting disabled people to make greater use of assistive technology.
The Work and Health Programme (WHP) helps people with a wide range of barriers, including disabled people and individuals with long term health conditions, to enter into and stay in work. The WHP works with local resources and programmes to ensure that effective use is made of local funding streams and the expertise of local service suppliers. Participants with multiple barriers to work can receive co-ordinated and holistic support personalised to their needs.
Care Leavers
The Second Chance Learning Scheme supports care leavers aged 18 to 21 who wish to catch up on the education they may have missed out on when they were younger. Housing Benefit or Universal Credit/Housing Support is available to those who take up full time study in non-advanced education (secondary level education) and are without parental support. If the care leaver isn’t studying, then they are not taking up the Second Chance Learning Scheme, and so can claim UC the same as any other person aged 18 and over, as long as they satisfy all of the conditions if entitlement.
As announced in the March 2021 Budget DWP are bringing forward a change to the care leaver exemption from the shared accommodation rate (SAR) of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) by over two years from the original implementation date of October 2023. The change extends the upper age limit to qualify for the care leaver exemption from age 22 to 25 from 31 May 2021. This enables care leavers aged 18 to 22 who receive either Universal Credit or Housing Benefit to receive the higher one-bedroom housing support instead of the shared accommodation rate.
This change supports continuity of accommodation and gives care leavers an additional three years to establish links, build support networks, and find work. It also brings the shared accommodation rate policy in line with wider government policies that offer extended support to care leavers up to the age of 25.
Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority Groups
DWP support is available for all people, including those from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds, through our Plan for Jobs provisions and the work we are doing with local partners (such as the Prince’s Trust and local colleges). We recognise the need for targeted support and local Jobcentres provide tailored support for local communities.
The Government has already unlocked £90 million from dormant bank accounts to go towards activities that address disparities in youth unemployment. Furthermore, an additional £10m was released during the pandemic to help organisations who support unemployed, disadvantaged young people, (including ethnic minorities) into jobs.
DWP also runs a national programme of mentoring circles which see employers offer specialised support to jobseekers, including young, ethnic minority jobseekers. These help customers to build their confidence, raise their aspirations and develop job search skills, whilst at the same time helping employers understand and revise their recruitment practices to attract a more diverse range of applicants. As a result of Covid-19, DWP have acted as facilitator to allow employers to deliver virtual mentoring circles sessions to comply with national lockdown and social distancing guidelines.
We are working in partnership with local bodies and taking action in 20 targeted areas, known as challenge areas, to open up more opportunities for all ethnic minority customers, based on our own research and data from the Race Disparity Audit. Lessons learned are rolled out across the country.
Q5. Details on the long-term effectiveness of traineeships, and future consultations on funding and accountability.
The Government has invested an additional £111 million in 2020/21 and a further £126 million for 2021/22 in traineeships as part of our reforms to their long-term effectiveness in the context of COVID-19, which is expected to have a disproportionate impact on young people’s employment prospects.
Young people qualified up to Level 3 are now eligible, traineeships can include development of digital skills for those who need them, and they can last up to a year for young people who need most support.
14,000 learners completed a traineeship as their highest aim in 2017/18. Of these, 66% sustained a positive destination into an apprentice, other employment or further learning[9].
This was an increase in percentage terms from 2016/17, when 17,000 learners completed a traineeship as their highest aim and 62% had a sustained positive destination.
To further maximise progression, we are strengthening the links between traineeships and employment. Traineeships can now include occupationally focussed content to prepare for a particular apprenticeship or job and new occupational traineeships are being developed, beginning with rail and construction in spring 2021. We have also introduced a new employer incentive of £1,000 to provide a work experience placement for a trainee. An evaluation of the investment in reformed traineeships has just begun, with outcomes due in July and September 2021.
The Department for Education will issue a Funding and Accountability Consultation in the spring. This will set out proposals to simplify and streamline funding provision in FE, and reform the approach for accountability. Keith Smith will be able to brief the Committee after formal publication of this document.
Q6. Research evidence relating to initiatives that support and promote apprenticeships
We are happy to share research evidence with the Committee as and when it is published. As a summary of research so far:
This LWI is due to complete research for DfE before the summer on: the apprenticeship support and knowledge for schools and colleges programme (ASK), care leavers and the apprentice minimum wage; the apprenticeship experience for people from disadvantaged backgrounds; reducing withdrawals; analysis of unsuccessful apprenticeship applications and links with pre-employment programmes, and longitudinal analysis of apprenticeship participation and earnings and employment returns.
The Low Pay Commission engaged a range of stakeholders leading up to their 2020 report,[15], which recommended the apprentice minimum wage rate rising 3.6% from £4.15 to £4.30 per hour in April 2021 (most employers pay more than the minimum).
The Commission has committed to considering alignment of the apprentice minimum wage with the minimum wage for 16–17-year-olds going forwards.
Q7. Policy regarding the teaching of technical/vocational subjects for 11–16-year-olds
All schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum aimed at promoting the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils; and preparing pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. We therefore expect schools to teach a full range of subjects, including technical subjects in the national curriculum, such as computing, and design and technology. The Government wants young people to leave school prepared, in the widest sense, for adult life. The acquisition of knowledge is the basic building block of education to which all pupils should have fair access; and a knowledge-based curriculum can stimulate critical thinking and enquiry skills which can only be taught in the context of solid subject content.
As such, the Government’s ambition is for an increasing proportion of pupils to study an academic core of GCSE subjects at Key Stage 4 through the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), ensuring that young people have the opportunity to study the core academic subjects at GCSE - English, maths, science (including computer science), history or geography and a language. These subjects are considered essential for many degrees and open lots of doors. They provide a sound basis for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16. They can also enrich pupils’ studies and give them a broad general knowledge that will enable them to participate in and contribute to society.
Our policy also allows schools to offer technical and vocational education alongside this academic core. In particular, secondary schools are held to account in part through the Progress 8 and Attainment 8 performance measures, which allow for pupils to take up to three non-EBacc qualifications from an approved list that includes technical and vocational qualifications. This gives schools choices about study options at Key Stage 4.
This is in line with the recommendations in Professor Alison Wolf’s 2011 review of vocational education for 14-19 year olds. Professor Wolf found that the system of vocational education was failing too many young people – a large proportion of students were on courses that had little or no market value, and it was seen as a second-class route aimed at the less able.
We also recognise that there have been changes in the entry to qualifications in subjects such as D&T over the past years as the GCSE reforms have been introduced. The Government has, however, introduced a range of changes to improve capacity and quality. England was the first G20 country to introduce coding into the primary curriculum and the wider computing curriculum, which was introduced in 2014 and replaced ICT. Computing is a foundation subject and local authority-maintained state schools must teach it until key stage 4.
From 2013 to 2019, the computer science GCSE was one of the fastest growing subjects in England with 77,500 pupils sitting the exam in 2019. As it was widely regarded as outdated, the ICT GCSE was abolished in 2016, with final exams taken in 2018. We do not expect that the same pupils who took ICT would automatically study computer science, due to fundamental differences in content.
With regard to pupils receiving a cultural and technical-based education, state-maintained schools are required to teach Design and Technology (D&T) as part of a broad and balanced curriculum at key stages 1 to 3. Pupils also have an entitlement to study D&T at key stage 4. D & T is one of the few subjects that gives pupils the opportunity to experience practical application of maths, science and computing. The current D & T curriculum has been designed to help develop the skills children need to become the next generation of British designers and engineers. The Design and Technology Association (DATA) provides detailed advice and support to teachers to deliver the D&T curriculum and qualifications.
We have made substantial spending commitments on maths, digital and technical education, including an £84m investment to improve the quality of computing education through the creation of a National Centre for Computing Education. As of March 2021, nearly 30,000 teachers had engaged with the programme. We are also investing support to enhance mathematics teaching across the country and have created a national network of 40 maths hubs across England. In addition, we have introduced the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) which provides targeted tailored support to schools and colleges with low level 3 mathematics participation.
In order to improve the quality of non-GCSE qualifications, in September 2020, the Department announced the launch of a new approvals process for Technical Awards, which are the main non-GCSE qualifications included in performance tables at KS4. Technical Awards are intended to equip 14- to 16-year-olds with applied knowledge not usually acquired through general qualifications. They are intended to focus on a sector or occupational group and enable the development of knowledge as well as associated practical skills where appropriate. Level 2 Tech Awards in ICT subjects provide a high quality, rigorous alternative to the computer science GCSE and in 2019, over 48,000 pupils took a Level 2 ICT qualification, which are included in school performance tables.
Our new approvals process means that only those technical qualifications that meet stretching requirements (as outlined in the technical guidance and in Ofqual’s qualification level conditions), and that have been reviewed by Ofqual and approved by the Department, will be recognised in the 2024 KS4 performance tables alongside academic qualifications.
We recognise that 40% of young people in Britain follow the ‘traditional’ path of GCSEs, A levels, and into HE. Technical and vocational education is the route for the other 60% of post-16 students and therefore is key to improving social mobility. Having a skilled workforce that meets the needs of the economy will be crucial to our recovery from the pandemic.
The Department has introduced legislation designed to increase the number of opportunities for young people to meet providers and find out more information about technical options. In the Skills for Jobs White Paper, the department announced the introduction of a 3-point-plan to enforce the ‘Baker Clause’ in the Technical and Further Education Act 2017. This clause requires all maintained schools and academies to publish a policy statement setting out opportunities for providers of technical education and apprenticeships to visit schools to talk to all year 8-13 pupils.
The Department also expects all schools to embed a careers education programme and link curriculum learning with careers in line with the ‘Gatsby Benchmarks’ so that young people learn how different subjects, such as IT, help people to gain entry to a wide range of careers.
The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) supports schools and colleges to connect with employers so that young people have opportunities to meet employers. These interactions help open their eyes to a range of career possibilities and training options, including technical and vocational education. More than 3 million young people are now meeting regularly with employers.
The CEC is working with Local Enterprise Partnerships to help Enterprise Coordinators in those areas with lowest uptake of STEM qualifications to make sure that STEM encounters are built into careers and enterprise plans.
UTCs are all-ability academies (predominantly for 14-19-year-olds) which combine technical and academic education and specialise in STEM subjects that meet the needs of their local economy, such as engineering and digital technologies
This Government is committed to improving technical education to address skills gaps in industry by providing young people with the technical knowledge and skills that employers need. Strong UTCs, working with local schools, employers, and the wider community, can play an important role in equipping young people with these vital skills. We are drawing on the expertise of our best UTCs and their employer partners in delivering T levels. In total, 12 UTCs have been approved to deliver T Levels by 2022 – a quarter of the 48 open UTCs.
Q8. COP26 and the Green Jobs Agenda: how the National Curriculum and workforce strategies can support this
The DfE is taking a number of steps to help boost skills for green jobs, such as the Green Jobs Taskforce, which launched in Nov 2020 by DfE and BEIS and aims to help the UK build back greener and deliver the workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Working in partnership with other Government departments, businesses, skills providers and unions, the Taskforce will focus on immediate and longer-term challenges including:
With help from the Taskforce, DfE will ensure that our existing skills programmes (such as those set out in the recent Skills for Jobs white paper and the Prime Minister’s recent Lifetime Skills Guarantee) can be directed to support the net zero agenda. This also includes Apprenticeships, T-Levels and Traineeships.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s new green apprenticeships advisory panel will feed into Taskforce. The panel will include a range of employers with a strong footprint in the green economy. It will advise where existing apprenticeships could be made greener and where we have gaps that could be filled by new green apprenticeships
As part of the Skills for Jobs white paper, the department announced measures in four key policy areas that build on the foundations laid by the 2017 Careers Strategy. These help to ensure we have the immediate skills to support a green recovery, a long-term plan that charting the skills needed to deliver a net zero economy, and support workers in high carbon sectors to retrain. Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan will support up to 90,000 highly-skilled green jobs in this Parliament, and up to 250,000 by 2030.
The green recovery presents a significant opportunity for UK workers to benefit from increased employment opportunities in green sectors. DWP stands ready to support people into green jobs as the sector grows through Work Coach interventions and targeted provision such as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). SWAPs offers pre-employment training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview to unemployed people on benefits who are ready to start a job. They allow people to learn the skills and behaviours that employers in particular industries look for.
DWP Train and Progress helps claimants to reach their work search goals by making the best use of existing flexibilities within the skills offer provided by key partners. From the 26th April 2021 DWP is extending the time that UC claimants can undertake full time work-focused training to up to 12 weeks across Great Britain and up to 16 weeks in DfE Skills Bootcamp areas in England (with the agreement of their work coach). This opens up new courses for claimants to gain the skills that employers value locally and pivot into new sectors.
The DWP Kickstart team also engages across Government departments, and with local government, to look at how the scheme can bring in green jobs. Work locally is undertaken by dedicated district teams with local authorities. Similarly, we maintain strong national relationships (including at ministerial level) with groups such as the Local Government Association.
Apprenticeships
Employers are at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships, designing high-quality standards that deliver the skills that they need, including in green jobs. A full list of apprenticeship standards can be found here. Furthermore, The National Careers Service website includes 800 job profiles setting out careers in different sectors.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has convened a Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel (GAAP) which aims to; guide the continued alignment of apprenticeships with net zero and wider sustainability objectives, identify which apprenticeships directly support the green agenda, and identify opportunities to create new green apprenticeships and employers to help take this work forward.
T-Levels
T-levels are designed by employers and will play a key role in meeting future skills needs, such as construction, which was one of the first three courses rolled out in September 2020 and covers areas such as sustainability and renewable energy in the core content.
There are currently 44 providers teaching the first three courses to around 1,300 students, with 24 more T Levels are rolling out gradually over the next three years in areas including Engineering and Manufacturing, Health and Science, to Legal and Finance.
Traineeships
DfE is working with employers to develop sector-specific traineeships in priority sectors such as construction, which will be used as a progression route into apprenticeships and other jobs. As such, the traineeships team is liaising across Government, including with BEIS and DEFRA, to plan for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and to support the green jobs agenda.
Funding
Over the course of this Parliament, we are providing £2.5 billion for a new National Skills Fund (NSF). This will fund the skills needed for the economy of the future and help people retrain and upskill into more productive jobs, such as opportunities provided by the green recovery and our net zero ambition.
We also plan to invest up to £290m to establish 20 Institutes of Technology, ensuring every region in England has an IoT. These will be the pinnacle of technical training, providing unique collaborations between further education colleges, universities and businesses offering higher technical education and training (mainly at Levels 4 and 5) in key sectors such as digital, construction, advanced manufacturing, and engineering. In Wave 2 of the guidance, we will be keen to explore how IoTs might look to tailor provision around net zero skills based on local area demands.
Finally, the High Value Courses Premium provides additional funding to encourage and support delivery of selected L3 courses in subjects that lead to higher wage returns and support the Industrial Strategy. Courses linked to net zero industries include, engineering, manufacturing technologies, and construction.
Q9. Update on implementation plan of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
The UK Government is working to ensure that there is a smooth transition from current EU structural funding arrangements to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), as EU structural fund investment tails off over the coming years. The UKSPF will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK, operating UK-wide, using the new financial assistance powers in the UK Internal Market Act.
The UKSPF will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting for places in need and better alignment with domestic priorities. A portion of the Fund will target places most in need across the UK, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and rural and coastal communities, whilst a second portion of the Fund will be used to support people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes that are tailored to local need. This will support improved employment outcomes for those who face labour market barriers.
The UK Government will ramp up funding, so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match current EU receipts, on average reaching around £1.5bn a year. The financial settlement for the Fund will be determined at the 2021 Spending Review for April 2022 onwards and a UK wide investment framework will be published later in 2021.
To help local areas prepare over 21/22 for introduction of the UKSPF, the UK Government is providing £220m additional funding through the UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF). The UKCRF will support communities to pilot programmes and new approaches. A prospectus[16] for the fund was published alongside the Budget.
To ensure European Social Fund (ESF) provision continues while a successor programme is being implemented, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has secured additional funding, from the ESF Managing Authority at DWP, to extend ESF contracts up to the 31st of March 2023.
Q10. Comparative data compiled on unemployment initiatives in the Devolved Administrations, to assess what is and isn’t working
DWP is committed to learning more from emerging evidence on what works to support young people. Recognising that adult education and skills is devolved policy, we are working closely with both the Scottish and Welsh Governments to make sure that young claimants can access the provision that that will most effectively support their journey towards employment.
Collectively, the national Plan for Jobs offer sits alongside the provision provided by the Scottish and Welsh Governments, providing an extensive package of support available to claimants in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Scottish and Welsh Government have specific devolved powers to decide how to deliver their own policies.
In a landscape incorporating national support and provision through Kickstart and the DWP Youth Offer, as well as bespoke support available at Devolved Administration and regional level, we have had, and continue to maintain extensive engagement with the Scottish and Welsh Governments as well as mayoral combined authorities and local government. This ensures that the regional offer is both sufficient to meet claimant needs and is understood by local delivery agents, including Work Coaches, wider stakeholders and claimants.
Social security and support for education and training is fully transferred in Northern Ireland and is the responsibility of NI Ministers and the Department for Communities. On the 15th of April, the Department for Communities launched their Jobstart Scheme, to create employment opportunities for young people. Our Departments are regularly in contact to discuss our approaches and learn from each other.
Q11. Commitment to provide statistics related to the level of youth unemployment and the number of young people defined as “disadvantaged”.
The level of youth unemployment
The ONS Labour Market Statistics show for the quarter Jan-Mar 2021:
The number of young people defined as ‘disadvantaged’
The DWP do not have a singular defined definition of disadvantage and as such we do not routinely collect data on disadvantaged customers. However, we are working with Universal Credit digital design colleagues to improve the collection of diversity characteristics, including considering ways to increase customer response rates to the diversity questionnaire.
The DfE Vulnerable Children Unit categorise vulnerable children and young people as ‘those who have a social worker, with an education, health and care plan or those who have been deemed to be otherwise vulnerable by local authorities or education providers’. However, we recognise that a number of other characteristics may also play a part in making children vulnerable, and work with Departments across Government to review and mitigate this important issue.
28th May 2021
[1] https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-03-04/debates/4ADCD39E-34CB-4780-ADC4-54182C9452E8/IncomeTax(Charge)
[2] https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1714/pdf/
[3] Young Apprentice Ambassador Network (amazingapprenticeships.com)
[4] CATCH-UP: Education Recovery Plan | Association of Colleges (aoc.co.uk).
[5] Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
[6] Paul Maynard taskforce recommendations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[7] https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-07/2019.036 APPG Apprenticeship Report EASY READ%5B1%5D.pdf
[8] bitc-race-factsheet-ethnicity-economic-impact-april20.pdf
[9] Further education: outcome-based success measures, Academic Year 2017/18 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)
[10] Apprenticeship reform programme: benefits realisation strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[11] Exploring-the-funding-and-support-for-apprentices-with-additional-support-needs (1).pdf
[12] https://learningandwork.org.uk/resources/research-and-reports/apprenticeships-at-level-4-and-above/
[13] Not yet published
[14] Not yet published
[15] Low Pay Commission Report 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[16] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-community-renewal-fund-prospectus/uk-community-renewal-fund-prospectus-2021-22
[17] Statistical Warning: Labour Force Survey (LFS) responses are weighted to official population projections to estimate the Labour Market Statistics (LMS). As the current projections are 2018-based they are based on demographic trends that pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic. ONS are analysing the population totals used in the weighting process and intend to make adjustments where appropriate. Rates published from the LFS remain robust; however, levels and changes in levels should be used with caution. This will particularly affect estimates for country of birth, nationality, ethnicity and disability.
Note:
a) those without a job, have been actively seeking work in the past four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks.
b) those out of work, have found a job and are waiting to start it in the next two weeks.