Contributions
1,118 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDYouth Guarantee: Jobs Guarantee National Roll-outEarlier this year, I updated the House on progress to deliver the jobs guarantee. Since then, phase 1 of the jobs guarantee has started in six areas of the country, with the first…09 Jun 2026HANSARDFit Note Reform Pilot SchemesTogether with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, I am today announcing a series of pilots to test a new approach to managing sickness absence…21 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainLet me read this out for the hon. Gentleman. The Leader of the Opposition said that the Government were “too scared to make foreign interventions”. She also said: “I say to Labour…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainI refer the hon. Gentleman to the figures that I just read out. For the first time in many years, the NHS is heading in the right direction. That is good for people’s health, and…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainApprenticeships are really valuable and important. I visited construction apprentices with the Prime Minister just a couple of days ago, so I heartily endorse what the hon.…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainI will outline the changes to the system that we are making. At the heart of it, we have to change the question that the system asks in order to have a system that is suited…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainIt is a pleasure to open today’s King’s Speech debate on behalf of the Government. As His Majesty said yesterday, we are living in “an increasingly dangerous and volatile world”.…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainIf it was down to those policies, we would not have seen a rise of a quarter of a million in the NEET—not in education, employment or training—numbers in the last three years of…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainThat is precisely what we are doing, including by providing apprenticeship courses that are shorter than the usual eight-month minimum, because employers have told us that such…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainI will proceed, if the hon. Lady does not mind. Unlike the Conservatives, who did nothing about the number of young people not in education, training or employment, we are doing…14 May 2026HANSARDGetting Britain Working AgainI have to disappoint the hon. Lady. If this Government were responsible, it would not be case that youth employment never in a single year reached the pre-financial crash levels…14 May 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsWe always listen to representations that ask for more funding for many good causes. On the issue of construction, a specific construction sector skills package was announced last…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsThe number of youth apprenticeship starts has fallen by 40% over the past decade. Because we want to give more young people the chance of apprenticeships, we are fully funding…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsMy hon. Friend will know that when people complete an apprenticeship, their chances of employment are very high. I am pleased to report that apprenticeship achievement rates are…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsMy hon. Friend is right to say that promoting apprenticeships must start in schools. Our brilliant apprenticeship ambassador network brings together about 3,000 employers and…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsI referred in my previous answer to the step I am taking, which is to put in place a £2,000 hiring incentive for small businesses taking up a new apprentice. If it is someone who…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsMay I congratulate my hon. Friend on what sounds like a fantastic initiative? She puts her finger on something very important: sometimes people who narrowly lose out on a…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsI am always grateful for the work of the Social Security Advisory Committee, and I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question, but one thing that she missed out is that…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsI agree with the shadow Minister that work is the answer. As I said a moment ago, apprenticeship starts are up on the latest figures and apprenticeship achievement rates are up.…27 Apr 2026HANSARDApprenticeshipsIt is important to remember that apprenticeships are paid and that the people undergoing them get a wage. When we are considering the overall economic impact on a family’s income,…27 Apr 2026