The Jobcentre team are supporting residents into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, Job Fairs, and work trials.

Our Youth Team works with the Prince’s Trust to provide additional support and courses to prepare young people who are not in education and training, including those without parental support, to attain training and employment.

The Jobcentre works closely with the National Careers Service who, after a successful trial, will deliver ongoing bespoke Group Information Sessions to customers who require a CV or need their current CV enhancing to apply for jobs.

The Jobcentre is hosting a bespoke Armed Forces recruitment event that will follow up on the UK’s national Armed Forces Day. This is in partnership with the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Additionally, the team in Portsmouth are working closely with local employers including Nature’s Way, Solent Sky Services and Thatched House (Greene King) to fill their job vacancies as well as working closely with partners such as the local Chamber of Commerce to offer regular Job Fairs focussed on specific sectors and customer groups.

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Fantastically, as the timing would have it, the team in his constituency are today holding a jobs fair at Swale leisure centre, with the support of 48 local employers. The local radio station is broadcasting live from the event to promote opportunities, and the DWP is working hard day in, day out to get people into work.

What steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in Sittingbourne and Sheppey constituency.

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply, but does she agree that it is also important to ensure that people who are unemployed have the education and skills training needed to take the jobs on offer? Much of the unemployment in my constituency is on the Isle of Sheppey. With that in mind, will she join me in welcoming the radical shake-up of secondary education now taking place on the island, and in addition the extension of Sheppey College to provide additional post-16 skill training courses, which is being part-funded by the Government’s levelling-up fund?

I know that my hon. Friend knows what a fantastic job his jobcentres do. This month, St Austell is running a sector-based placement with Crown Rail, offering guaranteed interviews to those who complete the training. Newquay jobcentre has worked brilliantly to bring in 20 new employers, who are using the jobcentre regularly to help fill their vacancies.

What steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in St Austell and Newquay constituency.

I thank the Minister for that answer and join her in thanking the excellent Department for Work and Pensions staff at both Newquay and St Austell jobcentres. Through their hard work and under the leadership and policies of the Government, we have achieved an 80.2% employment rate locally, which is well above the national average. We also have some great opportunities for the jobs of the future coming through in renewable energy, lithium extraction and the space sector. What more are the Government doing to ensure that local people in Cornwall can grasp those opportunities?

One helpful change would be to extend access to employment support to economically inactive people in St Austell and Newquay who are not claiming benefits and do not have access to that support. Will the Minister consider that as a step towards increasing the prospects of filling the current job vacancies?

In the constituency and across the London Borough of Havering, the local Romford Jobcentre team are supporting residents into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, Job Fairs, and work trials.

The weekly job club in Romford Jobcentre provides support on CV preparation, job applications and interview techniques, along with information sessions on a range of subjects to help customers into work, including information about different employment sectors, advice on childcare, support for those with additional health needs and motivational sessions.

The Jobcentre provides a bespoke service to employers, to match and screen candidates, and offers regular Job Fairs focussed on specific sectors and customer groups, with recent events to coincide with older workers week and national apprenticeship week. The team are also working with the London Borough of Havering to develop local support.

In partnership with the College of North East London we have recently offered SWAPs for local customers to gain skills and enhance their applications for the Logistics and Warehouse sectors. Care Provider Voices deliver a range of adult social care opportunities, with Springboard offering opportunities in the hospitality sector.

The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and help employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting job fairs and delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). Romford Jobcentre is working with Havering Council, local colleges, childcare providers and other organisations to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers.

This includes outreach support at the Rainham Childrens Centre and Havering Council, working with family practitioners, social workers, and probation to provide a holistic approach to supporting families in the borough, as well as support with CV preparation provided through Havering Library service, a Job Fair delivered in partnership with Havering Works and SWAPs delivered with Havering Adult College.

Disability Employment Advisers offer advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work, alongside close working with Change Grow Live, Havering Talking therapies, Havering Mind, the Social Prescribing team, and Richmond Fellowship. Romford Jobcentre colleagues also attend local events to highlight the support available, as well as Access to Work and Disability Confident.

In South Holland and the Deepings, and across the country, our Jobcentre teams are supporting people back into work and those in work to progress. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPS), recruitment days and job fairs.

In partnership with Boston College, Net UK and Steadfast Training, we have recently offered SWAPs for local customers to gain skills and enhance their applications for Security, Construction, Fork Lift Driving and Teaching Assistant vacancies. These offers are repeated bi-monthly. We are also working with the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Boston College to support recruitment into LGV driving roles via a Skills Boot Camp that has been running since early 2023.

Our local Partnership Manager works alongside the South East Lincolnshire Council Partnership on Shared Prosperity Funding Grant Panels, focussed on people and skills, with procurement of a range of options to support the economically inactive to move closer to the labour market and into work.

Has the Minister made any recent assessment of what trades or occupations are short of workers at the moment,

and what steps are being taken to persuade people—perhaps more experienced people—back into the workforce to fill those vacancies?

What steps he is taking to help fill job vacancies in Banff and Buchan constituency.

A large number of people in Banff and Buchan are economically inactive. They are not claiming benefits so they are not eligible for employment support from jobcentres, but the Select Committee recommended last summer that such people should be eligible. Would that not be in their interests and in the interests of employers struggling to fill vacant posts at the moment, and therefore supportive of much-needed economic growth?

My hon. Friend is aware of the very low unemployment in Banff and Buchan and the difficulty in filling vacancies with local people, particularly in the food and drink sector. The seafood sector in particular is still in a transition away from dependency on overseas workers, which could take some years. What data can the DWP provide on the measures that local businesses have taken to maximise the employment of local people, and what other support can the Department offer to attract workers to areas of low unemployment such as Banff and Buchan?

The jobcentre team are providing a broad range of support, including partnering with Morrisons and the Co-op to fill local vacancies in my hon. Friend’s constituency and delivering targeted outreach at Banff library with local providers.

The DWP is not an economic forecaster. This sits with the OBR who have forecast total hours worked in the economy will increase over the next 5 years.

In Bournemouth East, and across the country, our Jobcentre teams are supporting people back into work and helping those in work to progress. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPS), recruitment days and Job Fairs.

The world’s biggest Lidl warehouse, in Houghton Regis, is not only half a kilometre long and can deliver 9,400 pallets a day; it is also creating 1,500 jobs. What specific help can Jobcentre Plus give to employers such as Lidl, which has a huge number of vacancies to fill in my constituency?

We do not hold data on the number of vacancies which offer home or hybrid working. We are exploring how to improve the service to help jobseekers identify vacancies by this criterion.

We are working to ensure that individuals have tailored personal support in order to make the most of their talents, for some this will mean remote working for some hybrid and for others face to face.