The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East
There are now over a million young people not in education, employment or training. This Government is acting and determined to not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Youth Guarantee is our commitment to ensure that every young person across Great Britain can access support to earn or learn. We are investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years in the...
More than 1 million young people are currently not in education, employment or training. Youth employment in the UK has not reached its pre-financial crash level in any year since, and there has been a sharp rise in recent years in the number of young people not in education, employment or training. That is why we are investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the...
The hon. Member raises an important issue. Whenever I discuss youth unemployment and opportunity with MPs, they often identify transport links as a barrier. We are capping single bus fares at £3 on thousands of routes in England outside London until March 2027, but I believe that there is more that we can and should do, because he is right that connectivity is really important and is linked...
I thank my hon. Friend not only for her question but for the wonderful work she has done and the advice she has given me on closing the disability employment gap and championing the rights of partially sighted people. She asks about access, which is important. Alongside our jobcentre network, we have mobile jobcentre vans, and over the next few years we will be opening 360 youth hubs to get...
We have the second-fastest growing economy in the G7, we have 400,000 more people in work than we did last year and the number of young people in employment is up by 74,000 since the election. In the whole 14 years in which the hon. Member’s party was in power, it went up by only 1,000.
I appreciate that the DWP plays a role as a local employer, but it is important that we deliver our service as efficiently as possible on behalf of the taxpayer and that we get the maximum value for money for that. With regard to the hon. Member’s request, there has been an offer of a meeting with a Minister from the Department; I hope that he will take that up.
We are making strong progress on expanding youth hubs, with around 130 already in operation across Great Britain. In March, I announced the locations that we want to open in this year, and I have just announced a further 180 locations for the following two years. The areas involved, including Harlow, Cardiff, Dartford and east Hertfordshire, will see new youth hubs opening in local sports...
My hon. Friend is right, and I thank Cardiff football club for being a partner. We are supporting nearly 1 million young people and creating up to half a million opportunities for jobs and training. We are doing that by providing incentives for employers to hire, promoting apprenticeships and delivering a whole range of targeted programmes. Another important point about youth hubs is that...
Youth Unemployment has been rising for four years. Level of NEETS is up 250k from 2021 – 2024. In no year since the crash have Youth Employment rates reached pre-crash levels. That's why we have introduced the Youth Guarantee and why I commissioned Alan Millburn to write his report.
I commissioned Alan Millburn’s review precisely because this is one of the key issues we inherited. And I am determined, my department will play its role in addressing this. We are doing this through investing £2.5 billion through the Youth Guarantee, Expanding the number Youth in Great Britain, introducing Right to Try, rebalancing Universal Credit to improve incentives to work, and...
Too many young people are not in employment, education or training, something we are addressing and which the previous Government did nothing about. We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training. Over the next three years, this investment will unlock up to 300,000...
The government is investing £820m to help young people earn or learn through the Youth Guarantee. This includes a Jobs Guarantee where eligible 18–21-year-olds, who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months, will be guaranteed six-months paid work. We are also investing £725m for the Growth and Skills Levy will help support apprenticeships for young...
The number of economically active people - which is people either in work or actively looking for work - has increased and stands at a record high. Even if it takes them a little while to find a job, we want to support people back into the labour market and back into jobs. And through our Get Britain Working strategy, we are determined to give them the support they need.
Yes, please find the letter attached. Letter to Joe Robertson MP (pdf, 119.7KB)
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, when his Department first assessed each of the red-rated legacy IT systems in his Department to be red-rated.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, when his Department first assessed each of the red-rated legacy IT systems in his Department to be red-rated.
