HANSARD
Oral Answers to Questions
Work and Pensions
- The Secretary of State was asked—
- The Secretary of State was asked—
Unemployed Young People
- 1. What estimate he has made of the number of unemployed young people.
- 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 youth guarantee and the growth and skills levy.
- The Transport Committee’s “Buses connecting communities” inquiry heard about the significant impact that public transport connectivity has on unemployment. That is especially the case for young people in North Norfolk. It is a vicious cycle: poor connectivity creates poor prospects, and young people leave to start their careers elsewhere. How will the Secretary of State work with his colleagues across Government to make sure that young people in rural communities do not face extra barriers to unemployment compared with their urban peers, and will he commit to making sure that rural young people have a fair opportunity to thrive?
- 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 to opportunity.
- I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for his answers and the work he is leading on for young people. I recently visited a Jobcentre Plus office to meet the team and see some of the fantastic work they are doing to get our young people into work, but what struck me was that I had to visit a neighbouring constituency, because Battersea does not have its own office like that. Some of my constituents are having to take not one or two but three buses to get to that jobcentre when there is a perfectly good jobcentre in Wandsworth. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that we remove all barriers so that transport and travel is not a challenge for our young people in getting into work?
- 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 services to where young people are in the local community.
- I call the shadow Minister.
- Over 700,000 young people are now out of work. That figure is up 100,000 year on year, and the youth unemployment rate is now at over 16%—higher than at any point during the pandemic. As this is likely to be the ministerial team’s final question time, will the Secretary of State reflect on the damage that the Employment Rights Act 2025 and national insurance increases have had on youth unemployment? Behind all those figures are stories of young people not earning or learning. They do not need yet more billion-pound Government schemes. They need a growing economy with businesses that want to hire them. Will the next Government finally deliver that?
- 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 call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
- In deprived coastal communities such as Torbay, the NHS and the Department for Work and Pensions can make up a significant part of the job offer, including entry-level jobs for young people. It was therefore disturbing to hear last week that almost 5,500 jobs could be moved or be at risk of redundancy across the United Kingdom. In Torquay, there are 130 jobs at Cotswold House with no prospect of being moved to another DWP location. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss those office closures and how young people can be helped into employment through employment with the DWP?
- 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.
Job Opportunities: Rural Areas
- 2. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of job opportunities in rural areas.
- The employment rate is 78.4% in rural areas, compared with 74.8% in urban areas, with job opportunities in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and scientific and technical sectors. Under this Government, economic inactivity among people aged 16 and over in rural areas has fallen by 0.8%, and through the new jobs and careers service we are providing more outreach in rural areas, including jobcentre vans, bringing employment support directly into rural communities.
Benefit Cap
- 4. What steps he is taking to ensure that people affected by the benefit cap are not in poverty.