Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department plans to provide to contracted providers of the mandatory work activity programme on (a) tailoring activities to improve jobseekers' employment prospects and (b) supporting jobseekers with disabilities or health problems to comply with the terms of the programme.
Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what types of work will be undertaken by jobseekers required to participate in the Mandatory Work Activity programme.
Chris Grayling: ...to ensure claimants fully understand what is expected of them; improve the sanctions regime so that it more effectively encourages claimants to meet their responsibilities; and introduce full-time mandatory work activity. These changes will form the basis of the labour market conditionality and sanctions system under universal credit. Those measures that require primary legislation will...
Lord Freud: The Government currently have no plans to introduce short-term unpaid work. Earlier this month, in our White Paper Universal Credit: Welfare that Works we announced plans to introduce mandatory work activity: a new employment programme for customers who need help to refocus their search for work and help them to find employment. When a Jobcentre Plus adviser refers an individual to mandatory...
Lord Freud: On 11 November 2011, the Government published their White Paper, Universal Credit: welfare that work,' in which we set out our plans to introduce Mandatory Work Activity. Mandatory Work Activity is designed to help customers develop the labour market discipline associated with full time employment by requiring them to undertake a placement for up 30 hours a week, for four weeks which also...
Lord Freud: The mandatory work activity is designed to help a small number of customers to get back into the labour market, with labour market disciplines. If the noble Lord is referring to the attitude of the ILO on the matter, ILO experts produced a report on it in 2007 in which they accepted that this kind of work to help people back into the workplace was acceptable.