Committee to take evidence for the Work Programme inquiry

A call for written evidence for the inquiry was issued on Friday 15 October 2010 from interested organisations.

The witnesses that are to give evidence include:

• Stephen Evans, Director of Employment and Skills, London Development Agency
• Maria Hudson, Policy Studies Institute
• Professor Dan Finn, Professor of Social inclusion, University of Portsmouth (and Associate Director of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion)
• Dave Simmonds, Chief Executive, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion

The key issues that will be discussed by the panel of experts include:

• The steps the Department for Work and Pensions needs to take to ensure that a procurement programme of this size and complexity is managed effectively and delivers high quality outcomes
• The extent to which the Work Programme will differ from existing contracted employment programmes
• The relationship between prime contractors and sub-contractors and DWP’s role in overseeing this relationship
• The role of Jobcentre Plus in delivering the Work Programme, including the lessons learned from the Delegated Flexibility Pilots
• The implications for providers of the increase in volume and the change in profile of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants arising from the migration from Incapacity Benefit and Employment and Support Allowance
• The implications for providers of “payments by results” arrangements, with particular reference to the voluntary and social enterprise sector
• The likely effectiveness of a differential payment scheme in encouraging providers to support harder to help groups
• The implications of regional variations in the labour market, and whether these will be reflected in the differential payment arrangements
• How providers will be encouraged to work effectively with local authorities and other local agencies