Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 8
First Report - DWP’s preparations for changes in the world of work
Published 29 Jun 2021
Paragraph 45
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee DWP’s preparations for changes in the world of work All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
As change leads to the emergence of new jobs and changes to existing ones, the Government must ensure that it is monitoring the impact of change on the quality of jobs, not just the quantity. Studies such as the Skills and Employment Survey have been a useful source of data on job quality in the past. The Government should fund the next round of the Skills and Employment Survey, which is expected to be re-run in 2022–23. The Department for Education has funded the Survey in the past, but the next round could be funded by DWP, or by more than one department. DWP should also consider whether further methods of collecting data on job quality are needed. Working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, it should also consider whether there is a case for adopting a new framework for measuring job quality or modifying its existing measure.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, First Report - DWP’s preparations for changes in the world of work (HC 216), paragraph 45, 29 June 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 November 2021 (deadline 29 August 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government responds mainly by describing existing cross-departmental work, with BEIS, DfE and the ONS cited for several areas, and says it has no plans for Universal Credit claimant markers.
- On the recommended labour market strategy, DWP says it is "working with other departments, particularly DfE and BEIS", and that BEIS "is the department with responsibility for employment rights".
- On the Skills and Employment Survey, it says it is "solely a decision for the academics and ESRC" whether the survey runs again, rather than committing DWP funding.
- On assistive technology, the Disability Unit "will invest up to £1m in 2021 to 2022" in a new Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology, with findings to the Unit "by March 2022" and progress reported by summer 2022.
- On paternity leave reform, it says BEIS is analysing survey data and 2019 consultation responses, and that this "will inform government policy on parental leave and pay going forward".