The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for getting people into work and making work pay.

A range of employment support is available to non-claimants, including Access to Work grants; Disability Confident, Intensive Personalised Employment Support; Work and Health Programme Pioneer; and the online information service – Support with Employee Health and Disability. The Government also works in partnership with health systems to deliver support including Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, and the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, delivered in health settings.

In addition, non-claimants are able to attend DWP jobs fairs, which connect jobseekers with employers. The enhanced digital Mid-life MOT is also open to everybody and easy to access.

There are no current plans to assess the potential impact of the Employment Data Lab service on the effectiveness of either jobcentres or existing employment services.

All Employment Data Lab evaluations are published on gov.uk and so are available to all employment support providers and the public. There are currently no further plans to disseminate best practice.

We are fully committed to the delivery of Youth Hubs, which are an integral part of our wider DWP Youth Offer. Youth Hubs bring together Work Coach employment support and place-based services from local partnerships to help young people into work.

The Spring Budget 2023 committed to the extension of the Youth Offer until 2028, with funding beyond 2024/2025 to be determined by a future spending review. We published Youth Hub funding details in PQ 190112. Alongside this, we recently expanded eligibility for the Youth Offer allowing more young people on Universal Credit to see a Work Coach in a Youth Hub, receive intensive support at the start of their claim or to benefit from the expertise of our Youth Employability Coaches.

The Youth Offer, including Youth Hubs, is subject to a Process Evaluation. Early emerging findings are being shared internally and will inform any improvements or future changes to the Youth Offer policy. The process evaluation will continue until Spring 2024. We aim to publish the findings once complete.

We acknowledge the Youth Employment Group’s report calling for the Government to adopt a Young Person’s Guarantee and note the five recommended policy proposals.

The Government is committed to delivering targeted support for all young people, no matter what their start in life or the challenges they face, to give them the best chance of getting into work.

Within DWP, the Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16-24 who are on the Universal Credit and searching for work. As published in PQ 202513, we have expanded Youth Offer support to enable more young people on Universal Credit to see a Work Coach in a Youth Hub or to benefit from the expertise of our Youth Employability Coaches.

By extending the Youth Offer to other Universal Credit claimants we are helping more young people not in education, employment or training who claim Universal Credit to access this essential support. Some Youth Hubs will also offer a drop-in facility where these young people who do not have a UC claim will be able to access support.

Lastly, we recognise that ensuring young people have the most appropriate support, education or training to enable them to enter sustained employment and progress in their careers requires a cross-government approach. In partnership with DfE and DCMS, we have established a new cross Government Forum on Youth Skills for Life and Work. The forum provides an opportunity for departments to identify and act on opportunities to work closer together on crosscutting youth issues and to equip young people with the skills for life and work that they will need to fulfil their potential and drive growth for the country.

The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) operates a charging model which enables them to receive the majority of its funding through charges to industry clients. A proportion of ONR funding is provided by the Exchequer, via the Department for Work and Pensions as the ONR sponsorship department. Any resources, capital or cash authorised in the Supply Estimates but not used by the ONR at the end of a financial year are no longer authorised for use. Where the ONR has drawn down unspent cash from the Consolidated Fund, this will be immediately surrenderable back to the Fund.

Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) are set up in response to local job vacancies and labour-market demand. As such, SWAPs are generally marketed to employers through the Jobcentre Plus network. DWP’s National Employer and Partnership Team also regularly runs employer campaigns focused on different sectors to publicise SWAPs and the other support available to companies looking to recruit.

DWP also works directly with sector stakeholders to develop SWAP opportunities, such as the pilot launched in September, developed alongside UK Hospitality, to help potential employees gain a Hospitality Skills Passport. More widely, there is a guide to SWAPs on GOV.UK for employers, at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sector-based-work-academies-employer-guide.

The Department for Work and Pensions engages with individual employers and representative bodies regularly in the development and promotion of its schemes. A summary of the help available for recruiters is published on Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), which includes information about the Work Trials Scheme. Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available.

The Department has also developed a range of leaflets, guides and videos to share with employers including the Jobcentre Plus support for employers quick guides, which include information on the Work Trials Scheme.

The average number of benefit claimants per Work Coach varies across our locations. In December 2019, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 112 claimants. Whereas, in September 2023, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 119 claimants.

The average number of benefit claimants per Work Coach varies across our locations. In December 2019, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 112 claimants. Whereas, in September 2023, the average number of claimants per Work Coach was 119 claimants.

The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.

Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.

The Department regularly engages with individual employers and representative bodies and promotes its schemes. A summary of the help available is on gov.uk: Jobcentre Plus help for recruiters: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Employing people - Help to Grow.

Jobcentre Plus also engages directly with individual employers at national and local level to explain what services are available. Where schemes are delivered by third parties, they will have their own arrangements in place for promoting the help available to employers.

We confirm that the 2023/24 for the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) budget has already been approved.

The total underspend Office of Nuclear Regulation reported for 2022-23 was £4.0m.

The government wants to make sure that all students, regardless of background or circumstances, see a positive return on their significant investment in higher education (HE). This means they must achieve good quality qualifications, which equip them with the skills they need to achieve their potential.

Students are more likely to continue and complete their courses if they are of high quality. On 17July, we announced a package of reforms aimed at improving the quality of HE provision across the sector. The Prime Minister said then, and in his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, that the government will stop universities offering low value “rip-off degrees”. The OfS has already introduced a more rigorous and effective quality regime, including new minimum thresholds for student outcomes and has begun a new programme of investigations, the first reports of which were published on 12 September. Further information is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/ofs-publishes-first-reports-of-quality-assessment-visits/.

The department intends to ask the OfS to limit student recruitment where a provider is found to have breached student outcomes requirements, and would like to see consideration of future earnings made part of the regulatory regime.

The government is also focused on supporting students in practical ways. We have made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students, including for disadvantaged students. We have frozen the maximum level of tuition fees and we are trying to minimise the debt burdens for graduates wherever we can.

Those students struggling with their mental health can access Student Space, a mental health and wellbeing hub funded with £3.6m by OfS and the HE Funding Council Wales. This resource provides a dedicated online platform for students providing vital mental health and wellbeing resources. Over 450,000 students have accessed the platforms resources since its launch in August 2020.

We have asked the OfS to distribute £15 million of funding to providers in 2023/24 to support student mental health, including providing additional support for transitions from school/college to university, with a particular focus on providing counselling services for students. This funding will also allow providers to continue to develop better partnerships with local NHS services to ensure that students are able to access support in a timely manner, and not slip between the gaps in university and NHS provision. Partnership working between HE providers and the NHS will improve the care of students experiencing poor mental health by ensuring a more joined up approach to the delivery of mental health support.

I expect these combined efforts to have positive impacts on degree continuation and completion rates, as well as rates of progression into professional employment and further study.

Universal Support is in the early stages of development. We have a commitment to transparency and are considering the information that will be published on Universal Support services.

The funding for 2023/24 and 2024/25 was confirmed at Spring Budget 2023. Spending beyond 2024/25 is subject to the outcomes of the next Spending Review. As such we have not made an estimate of how much and what proportion of the funding announced to increase Workforce Participation at the Spring Statement will be spent by the end of 2027/28.