Contributions
592 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI agree with the right hon. Gentleman that, in the current climate, incentives are required to encourage employers to hire young people, and I have set out the measures that we…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportLast week, Alan Milburn produced a powerful report on the crisis of opportunity facing young people. The Secretary of State asked him to lead this work because it is a crisis that…02 Jun 2026HANSARD Relationship between Social Security Scotland and the DWPI understand that. I am the Minister with responsibility for the relationship with the Scottish Government and, therefore, Social Security Scotland, so if the hon. Lady would be…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportThe hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that incentives are needed to encourage employers to hire young people. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportAbsolutely, and that is not just for this Department, but Education, Health and all other Departments.02 Jun 2026HANSARD Relationship between Social Security Scotland and the DWPIf it is okay with the hon. Lady, I will come to the broad thrust of the problem she has identified later in my speech. It is quite complex, in that there are also some challenges…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportIf the hon. Gentleman wishes to have a debate on why young people not in education, employment or training are struggling as they are, he would do well to look at his party’s…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI would not put it quite in the terms used by the right hon. Lady, but jingoistic rhetoric is a feature of her new place in this House. As I said in response to my hon. Friend the…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI will raise that with the Department of Health and Social Care and come back to my hon. Friend.02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI agree with my hon. Friend: sometimes this can feel like a vicious circle for young people with disabilities, and we must ensure that we get this right.02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportMy hon. Friend raises an important point, which has not been made so far today, about young people who slip through the net because they are perhaps living with their parents or…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportWhere I disagree with the hon. Gentleman is that I am here to answer questions about the interim report from Alan Milburn, who himself points to a problem that is longer and more…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI certainly agree with my hon. Friend about the power of devolution—it is something that he and I know only too well from our roles as leaders within the Greater Manchester…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportAs I have said many times, we are introducing a new financial incentive to support SMEs to hire young people under the age of 25 as apprentices, providing that the earnings are…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportIt sounds like I will be having a day out in Scotland, so yes, I will take that in at the same.02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI can assure my hon. Friend that we are absolutely committed to delivering that holistic intervention and ensuring that all areas of the country see progress in this space. As…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportMy hon. Friend is absolutely right to recognise that many of the challenges faced by young people not in education, employment or training start at school or even preschool. We…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportI am reluctant to respond in the strongest terms possible because it is the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) who has made the point, and I hold him in the highest regard.…02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportWe are still waiting for the recommendations, but I will feed in my hon. Friend’s suggestion because I think it is a good one.02 Jun 2026HANSARDMilburn Review: Interim ReportThe hon. Gentleman has elevated me to Cabinet level—something that is at least premature, if not unlikely ever to happen, I suspect. I refer him to the Milburn report, because it…02 Jun 2026