The statistics for the second half of 2024 show the scale of the situation that we inherited from the previous Government. The number of young people not in education, employment or training had increased by around 300,000 since 2021, but, unlike the last Government, we are doing something about that. Over three years, the Government will invest some £1.5 billion to improve opportunities for young people through both the youth guarantee and more youth apprenticeships. We are expanding the number of youth hubs to more areas of the country, and we aim to add about 50,000 more starts through the change to youth apprenticeships. That is in stark contrast to the situation we inherited.
I draw the Secretary of State’s attention to Wiseup Networks, an organisation, based in my constituency, that enables employers across Manchester and London to provide young people with work experience and mentoring opportunities for those with social and economic barriers to work, including young people with special educational needs. Those opportunities lead to job offers, increased confidence and new career options for the participants. Given this Government’s commitment to social mobility and ensuring that young people are earning or learning, will the Secretary of State meet me and Wiseup Networks to discuss how we can support its vital work?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting the valuable work of Wiseup Networks. He is absolutely right; work experience and mentoring can play a very important role in helping young people to find work. Confidence can be an issue for young people, so building that up is really important. I am happy to arrange a meeting between him and a Minister from this team.
I am delighted that the Secretary of State is planning to visit the David Nieper Academy in Alfreton later this year. The school recently achieved zero NEETs at age 18 for the second year running by working closely with local industry and teaching employability skills. Local initiatives such as that should be complemented by national programmes. Will the Secretary of State provide an update on the results of the Wakefield pathfinder, which is seeking to trial a new, locally led approach to jobseeker support? Given our success in Alfreton, can he confirm whether Amber Valley could be considered as a location for the next pathfinder?
I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the excellent work of the David Nieper Academy in achieving NEET zero, and I congratulate it on doing so. She mentions the career service pathfinder in Wakefield, which was launched in April 2025. We are testing more personalised employment support, and evaluation is under way to understand how this approach works. It is right that we approach these matters with flexibility and innovation, and do not always do what we have always done.
A young person with undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is more likely not to be in education, employment or training. That is driven by a lack of recognition, treatment and tailored support. The expert-led NHS ADHD taskforce estimates that the cost to the UK economy of unsupported ADHD is £17 billion each year, but, with the right support, young people with ADHD can thrive. Will the Secretary of State set out how the Department is working across Government, including through the Milburn review, to ensure that young people with ADHD can access the support they need to thrive in work and reach their potential?
I know that my hon. Friend has spoken movingly about his own experience with ADHD. I assure him that Alan Milburn, a former Health Secretary who is carrying out this report for us, is in regular contact with the chair and secretariat of the independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, which is being carried out by the Department of Health and Social Care. More broadly, we should support young people, try to increase their confidence and ensure they do not conclude that a diagnosis means that they cannot work, because that should not be the conclusion reached. Many people who do have a diagnosis can go on to have very productive working lives.
Last week I met with Knowsley chamber of commerce, and we all welcomed the Government’s youth guarantee. Some 55,000 placements is a great start, but no scheme starts are currently planned in Knowsley, where the likelihood of young people not being in employment, education or training is higher than average. Will the Secretary of State commit to expanding the scheme and meet me and Knowsley chamber of commerce to discuss how we can get more young people into good jobs in Knowsley?
My hon. Friend has spoken powerfully of how unemployment in her constituency has scarred generations. I assure her that the youth guarantee will become nationwide by the end of the year. We have to break the cycle of intergenerational unemployment that she has spoken about, and I share her desire to be more ambitious in that area. I am very happy to keep up a dialogue with her and to meet with her, or to have a fellow Minister in the team do so.
Gloucestershire Gateway Trust does vital work in my constituency, helping those not in employment, education or training back into work. It runs the Bridging the Gap programme, which provides an employability skills course and a guaranteed interview at the country’s best motorway services, Gloucester services. It also ran the Going the Extra Mile project, which supported over 2,000 local residents who were furthest from employment. It is exactly the kind of organisation we need to work with to tackle the challenges we face, but the GEM project was stopped under the previous Government due to a lack of funding. Can the Secretary of State visit my constituency to see the work that Gloucestershire Gateway Trust is doing, and to discuss how we can work with community and voluntary organisations to tackle these challenges from the ground up?
I suspect we could be here for some time talking about what the best service station in the country is, but I have to say that Rugby services, between London and Wolverhampton, has taken things to another level. Gloucestershire Gateway Trust has helped create over 400 jobs for local residents. It continues to provide invaluable support, and I am very happy to take the opportunity to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency at some point—diary permitting, as they say.
Might the Secretary of State perhaps come up to Long Riston in my constituency and go to Oasis services, where I went on Friday? It faces a fivefold increase in its business rates, as well as the impact of the more than £4,000 increase in the cost of hiring a young person. Some people may welcome this national youth guarantee from the Government, but does it not remind you, Madam Deputy Speaker, of what Ronald Reagan said about the left? If something is moving, they tax it; if it keeps moving, they regulate it; and when it stops moving, they subsidise it.
The truth is that the Conservatives presided over a huge post-covid rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training, and they did precisely nothing about it. They also presided over a huge rise in the number of young people going on to sickness and disability benefits and did precisely nothing about it. They have discovered a thirst for change only after leaving office—they have no credibility and no plan on this issue. In contrast, we are responding through the youth guarantee, through changes to the apprenticeship system, and by giving young people more hope that the Government will help give them a chance in life.
A recent report from Adzuna, a large job search agency, shows youth unemployment at an 11-year high and vacancies plummeting. Jobseekers urgently need the new “jobcentre in your pocket” digital service. Given that current timeframes suggest that it will not be ready until 2028, will the Secretary of State assure us that all options are on the table to accelerate delivery—including leveraging the private sector and technology—so that we can support jobseekers now, rather than years down the line?