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The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall recently (26 November 2024) delivered a speech to Parliament to present the Get Britain Working White Paper.

INTRODUCTION

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I’d like to make a statement on our Get Britain Working White Paper. 

Bringing forward the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation.

Turning a department for welfare into a department for work. 

Taking the first steps towards delivering our bold ambition of an 80% employment rate, in a decade of national renewal.

Madam Deputy Speaker, nothing short of fundamental reform is needed. 

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The UK is the only G7 country whose employment rate hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

… a near record 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness. 

… almost 1 million young people not in education, employment or training.

… and millions more stuck in low paid, insecure work. 

With all these problems far worse in parts of the country, in the Midlands and the North, that were deindustrialised in the 80s and 90s.  

The very same places that have lower life expectancy and chronic poor health.  

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The result is an economic and above all social crisis, paid for in the life chances and living standards of people right across this country…

…and by a benefits bill for sickness and disability that is set to rise by £26 billion by the end of this Parliament.  

And the reason we have ended up here is the failure…

To create good jobs in every part of the country. 

To deliver on the NHS. 

And to properly reform welfare. 

But under our Government, this will change. 

With new opportunities, matched by the responsibility to take them up. 

Because under this Government, if you can work, you must work. 

Madam Deputy Speaker, our White Paper brings in 3 major reforms. 

First, we will create a new jobs and careers service…

Overhauling Jobcentres from a one-size-fits-all service that overwhelmingly focuses on administering benefits, into a genuine public employment service, providing personalised support for all.

Today I can announce, we will bring Jobcentres together with the National Careers Service in England, beginning with a pathfinder early next year. Backed with £55 million of initial funding.

We’ll work closely with mayors and local leaders to ensure our new Jobs and Careers Service is rooted in local communities and properly joined up with local help and support. 

And we’ll work closely with employers to develop the service too. Because when only one in six businesses has ever used a Jobcentre to recruit, this has got to change. 

For too many people, walking into a Job Centre feels like you’re back in the 80s or 90s. 

So we will trial a radically improved digital offer…

… using the latest technologies and AI to provide up to date information on jobs, skills and other support, and to free up work coach time

…. and testing video and phone support too … because in the 2020s, you shouldn’t only have to go into the Jobcentre every week or fortnight if you could have a ‘Jobcentre in your pocket’. 

And because our frontline staff are our greatest asset, we’ll develop the work coach and careers advisor professions, including launching a new coaching academy. 

Madam Deputy Speaker, the second major reform is our new Youth Guarantee so every young person is earning or learning. 

This comes alongside our commitment to provide mental health support in every school…

Our work experience and careers advice offer…

And our plans to reform the last Government’s failed apprenticeship levy to give more young people the opportunities they deserve. 

But our new Youth Guarantee will go further, bringing together all the support for 18- to 21-year-olds under the leadership of Mayors and local areas

… so ALL young people have access to education, training, and employment opportunities and so that no young person misses out.

Today I can announce we will establish eight ‘trailblazers’ for our Youth Guarantee….

… in the Liverpool City Region, the West Midlands, Tees Valley, East Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West of England, and 2 areas within Greater London.  

Backed by £45 million of additional funding. 

I can also announce a new national partnership to provide exciting opportunities for young people in sports, arts and culture…

…starting with some of Britain’s most iconic cultural and sporting organisations, including the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Channel 4.  

Building on the brilliant work they already do, to inspire and engage the younger generation, and get them on the pathway to success.

This is our commitment to young people.

We value you. You are important. We will invest in you and give you the chances and choices you deserve. 

But in return for these new opportunities, you have a responsibility to take them up. 

Because being unemployed or lacking basic qualifications when you’re young can harm your job prospects and wages for the rest of your life. 

And that is not good enough for young people or for our country.

The third reform in our white paper is our new plan to tackle economic inactivity caused by poor health.   

The Health Secretary is already taking action to get people back to health and back to work, with extra support to drive down waiting lists in the 20 NHS Trusts with the highest levels of economic inactivity. 

We’re joining up employment and health support

….expanding Individual Placement Support to reach an additional 140,000 people with mental health problems

… and delivering new WorkWell services, which includes GPs referring patients to employment advisors and other work related support, like the brilliant service in the Junction Medical Practice in North London that we visited recently. 

But we will go much further and faster to tackle this issue.

To meet the scale of the challenge, we will devolve new funding, new powers and new responsibilities to tackle economic inactivity to Mayors and local areas. 

Because local leaders know their communities best.

We’ll support all areas in England to produce local Get Britain Working Plans – joining up work, health and skills support.

Today I’m announcing 8 trailblazer areas, backed by £125m of additional funding, in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, the North East, Greater Manchester, Wales, York and North Yorkshire, and 2 Greater London areas. 

In three of these areas – South and West Yorkshire, and the North East – this will include dedicated input and £45 million of funding for local NHS integrated care systems. 

And we’re funding a new supported employment programme called Connect to Work – backed by £115 million of initial funding for next year. 

This will be included in the Integrated Settlements of combined authorities, starting with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. 

Because employers have such an important role in helping get people into work and to stay in work, I can today announce a new independent “Keep Britain Working” review: looking at the role of UK employers and Government in tackling health related inactivity and creating healthy workplaces.

This will be led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield and it will report in the Autumn. 

And, finally Mr Speaker, I can tell the House we will bring forward a Green Paper with our own proposals on reforming the health and disability benefits system:

… so disabled people and those with health conditions have the same rights as everybody else, including the right to work 

… so we treat disabled people with dignity and respect

….and so we shift the focus to prevention and respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of today’s health conditions. 

We’ll work closely with disabled people and their organisations as we develop our proposals, which we will publish in the Spring. 

Madam Deputy Speaker, this White Paper turns the corner on the last 14 years.

Putting forward the real reforms we need

… to get more people into work and on at work. 

… to give young people the very best start in life. 

… and to ensure our employment and social security system understand this fundamental issue: that a healthy nation and a healthy economy are two sides of the same coin.

This is how we get Britain working again.

It’s how we get Britain growing again. 

I commend this statement to the House.