Speeches by Johnson.

“Of course, we are bound by the fact that we have a spending review period. That is why the funding is as it is. The intention is—I think, Angus, you would say this—that the five years is what we are looking at but the funding is allocated on a three-year basis just because that is the way Government operates.”

“One of the issues I come across when I talk to employers is about confidence. That is what lots of employers tell me. They do not feel very confident dealing with an employee who is sick or has a disability. That is what I am hoping we are going to get through the Vanguards, that ability for employers of whatever size …”

“From employers?”

“We keep under review all policy initiatives. We look constantly at what we can do. I cannot give you an answer on that today, but all I can say is we review, we look. I have constant discussions with the Minister for Social Security and Disability about what more we can do as a Government.”

“It is fair to say that this is the first time the DWP has done it this way and it has been a learning process, it seems to me.”

“You are right that this is very important to me. Safeguarding is about keeping people safe. Someone who comes to a jobcentre may be the victim of domestic abuse, may have been trafficked or is being coerced in some way, and it is important to me that that is picked up and acted on. That is the safeguarding bit, and tha…”

“First, I should say that I am really pleased that this Committee and the predecessor Committee looked at safeguarding and took that very seriously. Since I became the Minister at the end of last year, one of the things I have been quite taken aback by is that previous Governments did not think that safeguarding was an …”

“You will appreciate that that is not in my gift as the Minister for Employment.”

“You are right, there are a lot of large businesses in the Vanguards, but I think the mayoral and combined authorities are working very much with the small businesses in their localities for exactly the reason you have recognised, that if you do lose one person and you are just a group of five working together, that can…”

“First of all, it is disabled people and people with health conditions and complex reasons why they are unable to enter the labour market. When I went down to Lewisham to see for myself what was going on, I was privileged to meet a group of people who were part of Connect to Work. It really varied, actually. There was a…”

“You raise an important point. Simon or Angus, do you want to say something about this, because I agree?”

“I take your point about additional costs on business, but what I also know when I talk to businesses is if they have an employee who they have invested in, who is doing a good job for them, and then for whatever reason they have a health issue, a health problem, and they might have to have time away from the workplace,…”

“I am also conscious with the Jobcentre Plus that we want to transform jobcentres. It is not a tick box compliance relationship you have with the customer. It is about that personalised individual employment support. That is what we want work coaches to spend their time on and that is why we are looking at a digital par…”

“Yes, and I do as well, absolutely.”

“This goes through the ICB, and you will know—we all know—that ICBs are going through major changes at the moment. To roll WorkWell out at the moment, when the ICBs are reconfiguring and sorting themselves out, it is about making sure that it is in there now. I was worried that if we waited for the ICBs to be reconfigur…”

“WorkWell is obviously based on information, evidence and analysis that has happened before this scheme. When I went to visit WorkWell in Cambridge at the end of last year, one of the things that struck me there was that they had taken quite a long time to actually get going. We have these 15 pilots, and it seemed to me…”

“It is a pleasure, as always, to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) on securing this debate. As he rightly pointed out, employment can often get bound up in numbers, targets and rates. What we all know is that this is fundame…”

“Those are very wise words from my hon. Friend. I want to say something about employers, because they have a vital role to play in all this. On keeping people in work when they develop an illness or a disability, we are really pleased that we are working with over 100 Vanguard employers to take forward the recommendatio…”

“I will make some progress, because many Back Benchers want to speak. The skills White Paper sets out our plan to build a more specialised and more efficient higher education sector that will better meet the needs of the economy. The graduate economic inactivity rate is now at its lowest on record, and we want to build …”

“My hon. Friend has made his case very well. He referred to the £725 million for the growth and skills levy, which is part of the more than £1.5 billion that has been made available for employment and skills support in the Budget. That is very much needed after the dramatic decline in the number of young people starting…”