Mark Isherwood
North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has accused the Welsh Government of preventing people from accessing work.
Responding to the Statement by the Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Ken Skates AM on ‘Welsh and UK Government Alignment of Employment Support’, Mr Isherwood said the Welsh Government must stop putting party political posturing before people and instead work together with the UK Government on this matter as called for by the Welsh Affairs Committee.
The Welsh Affairs Committee’s report on the Work Programme in Wales found that Work Programme participants in Wales are not able to access the full range of training courses available to them, unlike in England, where “both governments have a common aim to support people in Wales seeking work, particularly the long-term unemployed, and it is imperative they work together to achieve that”.
Mr Isherwood welcomed the Minister’s Statement , which he called for in March, but regretted that although it announced the establishment of a senior level working group, jointly chaired by DWP and the Welsh Government, to take forward the Welsh Affairs Committee’s recommendations, it did not make a full commitment to ensuring that Welsh Government schemes like Jobs Growth Wales work together with the UK Government’s Work Programme.
He said:
“We know that, last November, the Welsh Affairs Committee report on the Work Programme in Wales called on the UK and Welsh Governments to work collaboratively to secure access to skills training, and you have indicated that there has been dialogue with Esther McVey MP since that point. The concern was that people on the Work Programme in Wales have been denied access to Welsh Government schemes funded by the European social fund and that they are, in fact, still being denied it three years after the Work Programme was launched in Wales as well as the rest of the UK.”
Mr Isherwood referred to the case of a North Wales woman, Lucy Halfpenny, who, it was reported in the media over Easter, had been required to go on the Work Programme and to apply for jobs, but had not been able to access either of the jobs she was offered, because both required Jobs Growth Wales support denied to her.
He said: “Would you agree that we should be helping young people like that young woman in north-east Wales and bending the system in any way possible to prevent that from happening again?”
Mr Isherwood also hit back at the Deputy Minister’s criticism of the Work Programme.
“The Deputy Minister’s baseless claims ignore the reality, scale, nature, flexibility and success of the Work Programme, putting people at the centre and providing long-term support for sustainable employment.
“Jobs Growth Wales and the Work Programme are polar opposites. The Work Programme is the biggest Welfare to Work programme the UK had ever seen – with payment by results not only for getting people into work, but for keeping them in work.
“In recent meetings with both Work Programme Providers in Wales, they reported sustainable job outcome figures now being achieved from this two year programme.
“This is the third year of a two-year programme of support for participants, with referrals being for those furthest from the workplace of all ages, and figures show that the performance target for 18 to 24-year-olds has been massively exceeded and the target for the over-25s has, been significantly exceeded.
“The Welsh Government’s Jobs Growth Wales programme meanwhile provides unemployed young people aged 16 to 24 with a job opportunity for six months. Unlike the mandatory UK Government Work Programme, the Welsh Government’s ‘Jobs Growth Wales’ programme is voluntary and people are therefore far more prepared to engage. So why is it not more of a success?”.
