Jobseeker’s Allowance (Work for your Benefit Pilot Scheme) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I start by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, for her kind remarks. I would not necessarily accept that this might be my last time in this role at the Dispatch Box, but we will have to see. I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate. I have to start off with the confession that in my opening presentation I made an error when I said that the sanction for a third act or omission was two weeks, when in fact it is 26 weeks. My apologies for that; it ought to be put clearly on the record. The noble Lord, Lord Freud, gave us his view of where we are in terms of employment and unemployment statistics. He will be aware that the latest figures showed that there were 2.4 million more people in employment than there were in 1997. The employment rate is 0.5 percentage points lower, at 72.2 per cent, but the long-term claimant unemployment count is 58 per cent lower and the long-term youth claimant unemployment is 28 per cent lower. That shows that a Government who are active in looking at employment policies can make a difference. In particular, if you look at the expectations that pundits have around unemployment, given the recession, you see that unemployment is half a million lower than was expected last year, with 365,000 more lone parents in work and 600,000 more disabled people in work. The noble Lord made reference to the inactivity rate—the figure of 8 million, I think—but he will know full well that this is partly attributable to the fact that there are more people and so there will inevitably be a higher number. Also, the figure covers many more students than there used to be in full-time education, which is something that I am sure we would both welcome. The noble Lord asked about the evaluation of the work programme. We are already testing a cross-benefit approach through the personalised employment programme from spring of next year. That includes the new funding model, which of course will be familiar to him. He asked how this fits in with our other schemes. Work experience is only one element of the potential support. It is important that we test this element and ensure that it is as good as it can be. We will include work experience as part of the wider support that is included in the jobseeker’s guarantee, which we announced yesterday. The noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, asked whether this is the right economic climate for these proposals. We need to keep people who are out of work as close to the labour market as possible, regardless of economic conditions. This gives them the best chance of capitalising on the recovery when it occurs. We will not repeat the mistakes of the past and ignore unemployed people when they most need help. The noble Baroness also referred to research reports on workfare. The research shows that similar programmes in other countries have had varying success. However, we do not intend blindly to mirror what has gone before. We want to learn from others’ experience and to develop a programme that meets our own needs and moves people into work. This is why the programme includes up to 10 hours per week of additional support from the provider. The noble Baroness asked where these placements will come from in the current economic climate. I will also deal with the point made by my noble friend Lady Wall. Work for your Benefit placements are not permanent jobs; they are work experience placements and can be located in any number of organisations, including in the public sector, where appropriate. We do not expect the number of participants to be large and we will run pilots in limited areas, but we will ensure that placements are in addition to any existing or expected vacancies and that they do not result in companies taking on Work for your Benefit customers at the expense of recruitment. All employers who offer work experience placements must sign a declaration—the noble Baroness sought confirmation of this—that states that the placement is in addition to existing or expected vacancies in their organisations. It is very important, as my noble friend says, that this is a transparent process. The noble Baroness also asked about the work that people will do. The type of work experience will be different for everyone. We will ask providers to source individual work experience placements that are based on the needs and aspirations of the individual. This bespoke work experience will have a far more realistic chance of helping jobseekers into work. It is therefore not a one-size-fits-all approach; it is very much to the contrary. In comparison, workfare tends to be work experience in isolation and is without the additional employment support and training that are included in the Work for your Benefit programme. In addition, workfare placements have tended to be one-size-fits-all, which is not what is intended here. Work for your Benefit will provide work experience that is based solidly on the needs and aspirations of participants, so their aspirations will be taken into account. The noble Baroness also asked about random allocation. Random allocation is the most robust method of evaluation, as we are testing two different options against each other. I hope that I have dealt with each of the points that noble Lords have made. My noble friend Lady Wall made the point that the pilots will proceed over a couple of years, but our announcement yesterday means that we will proceed with the job guarantee for everyone who has been out of work for two years, and we will not await the finalisation and the evaluation of the pilot, as I explained in my introduction. With those comments, I seek approval for these regulations. Motion agreed.