PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Youth Employment - 2 July 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

We are investing £2.5 billion over the next three years in tackling the issues around youth unemployment. That will include new initiatives, such as a further 19 technical excellence colleges to provide high-quality training for jobs in key sectors.

I recently met people from Mission Employable, an incredible charity based in Chorleywood, which offers supported internships for young people with special educational needs and disabilities. It was deeply concerning to hear that in England only 6% of adults with learning disabilities are in paid work. Will the Secretary of State outline how he is working with other Departments to ensure that the youth jobs grant does not disincentive employers in hiring people from supported internship backgrounds who are not claiming universal credit?

The hon. Gentleman raises an incredibly important issue. It sounds as if the charity that he references is doing incredibly important work locally. We want to support that work. It is a shame that in the years running up to coming into office, apprenticeship starts had fallen by 40%. We are reinvesting in apprenticeship starts and ensuring that they are available to everyone, from every background and with every ability.

While still at school, I played my part in the creative industries by playing in bands with names as louche as Street Lethal and Cheap Sweeties. It was very lucrative.

Give us the opening line!

I’ve got it! In the modern era, that all important first job is increasingly hard to find because of the Chancellor’s jobs tax and the massive 330-page Employment Rights Act 2025. Will the Secretary of State go to the new northern powerhouse Cabinet and impress upon the Chancellor the need to save our summer jobs and cut the burden on industry?

I am glad to hear about the hon. Gentleman’s childhood experiences. In retirement, perhaps we will see him in the musical “Mama Mia!”. My first job was on a battery chicken farm collecting eggs, so I hope that I can take a different path when I move away from the current profession. I assure him that not only are we are investing £2.5 billion but we are working across Departments to ensure that 400,000 students in disadvantaged schools will take up AI and tech skills through the tech first programme. These are the kinds of initiatives that we are wrapping around young people so that they get support for the age in which we are living. Extending the hours for 13-year-olds is not a serious solution to the challenges we face, but that is the only answer that we have heard from Members on the Conservative Benches in recent times.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are often best placed to kick-start a young person’s career, but when I met a group of small business owners at the Crown pub in Granborough, many told me that the up-front costs of training and supervision often act as a barrier to taking on young people. Will the Secretary of State update the House on what support the Government are providing to incentivise small and microbusinesses in helping to give opportunities to young people?

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. We have created a specific fund to support SMEs and young people to start up businesses. It is incredibly important that people from all backgrounds get to explore their entrepreneurial talents, and that is exactly what this Government are doing to make that happen.