Recommendation 13

The Department explained that it is planning to evaluate the impact of its new schemes, beginning with the Kickstart programme, building on the evaluation work it completed for its previous schemes, which informed its current programme.34 We heard that the Department expects to use methodologies that allow it to separate the effect of its support from the other factors that might have impacted a person’s employment outcome. The Department told us, however, that producing the final results of evaluations of this nature would take several years.35 The Department’s evaluations of its existing employment support programmes for disabled people are already behind schedule.36 The Department told us that that some of its randomised control trials, where it tries to assess the impact of its employment support, could not be carried out during the pandemic, so have been paused. The Department told us that this was the case for both the Work and Health Programme, which offers support to disabled people and the long term unemployed, and the Intensive Personalised Employment Support scheme, which offers 27 Q 17; C&AG’s Report, pg 14 28 Q 17 29 C&AG’s Report, Appendix 2 30 Q 18; C&AG’s Report, pg 44 31 Q 18 32 Q 21 33 Letter from the Permanent Secretary to the Chair, 5 July 2021 34 Qq 51–52 35 Q 36 36 Q 52; C&AG’s Report, Supporting disabled people to work, Session 2017–19, HC 1991, 28 Month 2019, Fig 12 DWP Employment support 13 personalised employment support for people with disabilities and complex needs.37 The Department said that it was “trying to work out another way of doing the same evaluation”.38 Following the session, the Department wrote to us saying that findings from an externally commissioned evaluation on the Work and Health Programme are expected in Summer 2022, and a synthesis report on an evaluation of the Intensive Personalised Employment Support scheme is expected in 2023.39