My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken to air these important issues.
The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham identified some of the major barriers placed in the way of people who want to take up education and training to improve their skills. Did the Minister see the recent report from the Association of Colleges? It concluded that the current social security rules
“actively discourage people from getting the skills they need”—
a point reinforced by the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross. The report argues that, if this is not fixed, it will result in
“fewer people in stable and meaningful jobs … slower economic growth … reduced opportunity to meet employers’ skills needs; and … bigger tax burdens.”
It is crucial that government policy is joined up, with skills, employment and social security policy properly aligned. Indeed, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, pointed out, all these must be aligned with our overriding plans to deal with the climate emergency. Amendment 98 in my name is designed to probe whether the Government have any plans to do this, in terms of alignment, by changing the rules on universal credit to support skills development.
Most people who are studying full-time cannot get universal credit. There are exceptions, such as for young people who are doing A-levels or other non-advanced courses and do not have parental support, for those who are responsible for children and for some disabled people with a limited capacity for work. Otherwise, people on UC face the kind of conditionality requirements mentioned by the right reverend Prelate, the noble Baroness, Lady Janke, and others. Specifically, unless they have an easement of some kind, UC claimants are meant to spend 35 hours a week looking for work, and to provide evidence. This can result in some pretty dispiriting things of the kind mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett. The claimants are allowed to do part-time education or training, but only if they can fit it in in their spare time—in other words, fit it in around a full week’s job search.
2.15 pm
Work coaches can make an exception if they think that more training would help someone on universal credit to get into work quicker. Even then, the training should normally be for a maximum of 30 hours a week so that the claimant can continue with their job search for the remaining hours. In that circumstance, if the claimant were offered a full-time job—even a temporary one—would they have to stop the training and take the job?
Even with full-time or nearly full-time training, it is normally limited to short courses, usually of up to eight weeks in England and a bit longer in Scotland and Wales. However, there is a DWP pilot running until the end of October where the maximum period is raised to 12 weeks for full-time work-related training throughout Great Britain and 16 weeks for skills bootcamps in England. Is this a pilot with a view to extending the time limit more broadly?
Beyond this, it would be good to understand the Government’s plans for enabling everyone to get the skills they need. If the Government want to get everybody initially up to at least level 3, and if they want people to train or retrain for the jobs of the future, what are their plans to ensure that everyone can afford to do this? If some people cannot afford to support themselves while they acquire skills, they risk being trapped either out of work or stuck in low-skill, low-paid jobs, which, apart from anything else, will probably keep them on in-work benefits indefinitely.
I realise that this falls between departments. If this were a DWP Bill, I would not be surprised if the Minister got up and said, “It’s not the job of the benefits system to fund full-time students. That’s what student finance is for”. Since the Minister responding is from DfE, it would be interesting to hear her take on how her department thinks people should be funded to acquire new skills. Above all, government departments need to work together. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.