PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Unemployment (9 December 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the (a) unemployment and (b) youth unemployment rates in Enfield North constituency; what comparative assessment her Department has made of those figures and the equivalent UK rates; what assessment her Department has made of the factors that contribute to geographical disparities in unemployment rates; and what steps she is taking to reduce unemployment in Enfield North constituency.

Asked by:
Feryal Clark (Labour)

Estimates of (a) unemployment and (b) youth unemployment in the year to Jun 2021 based on the Annual Population Survey are published and available here. Guidance for users can be found here. The sample sizes for Enfield North mean that the youth unemployment rate is suppressed in the latest data, and the overall unemployment rate estimate is unreliable.

This geographical data is published and the Department keeps it regularly under review.

Through our Plan for Jobs, DWP has recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches to provide support to unemployed people to find a job. DWP has several targeted schemes to support people of all ages and to help them prepare for and progress into work. These include the Kickstart Scheme which has, so far, seen over 112,000 young people aged 18-24 start new jobs and Restart which provides up to 12 months intensive employment support to Universal Credit claimants who have been unemployed for a year.

The DWP Youth Offer has been extended to 2025 and has expanded eligibility to include 16 and 17-year olds, in addition to 18 to 24-year olds, who are claiming Universal Credit and searching for work through the 150 Youth Hubs across England, Scotland and Wales. DWP is also delivering a comprehensive package of support for young people in collaboration with the Department for Education and National Careers Service in England, the Devolved Administrations, and other partners.

In Enfield North, all customers have access to the Plan for Jobs offer, delivering a comprehensive range of support to help people back into work. We are in the process of establishing two Youth Hubs in Enfield. Mainstream employment support in Enfield is supplemented through DWP’s local Flexible Support Funded (FSF) provision, in response to needs identified within the local community, delivering tailored support to enhance employment prospects.

The Jobcentre also works with local employers to deliver Sector Work Based Academy Programmes (SWAPs). These deliver short vocational training linked directly to vacancies within a particular employer or in a particular sector. In Enfield we continue to host a range of employers in various sectors including care, construction, administration and warehouse roles.

Answered by:
Mims Davies (Conservative)
17 December 2021