Contributions
1,153 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDUnemploymentI congratulate the business club—such organisations play a valuable role in our constituencies. The hon. Lady asks what measures we are taking, and I am grateful to the Chancellor…09 Mar 2026HANSARDTopical QuestionsThe hon. Member is right to point to the disparity of information that there sometimes is for apprenticeships compared with university courses. It is something that we need to…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentAs I said, no employer national insurance contributions are payable for workers under the age of 21, and we believe that workers should be decently paid for the work they do. We…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemployment: ScotlandThe Scottish unemployment rate is 3.8%, and overall economic inactivity in Scotland is higher than in the UK as a whole. However, I am pleased to say that Scotland has had the…09 Mar 2026HANSARDYoung People and Work ReportThe hon. Member has posed a very good and important question, and the issue of graduate unemployment is by no means confined to the UK. In the United States, for example, a…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentWhatever Department I am in, I hear the same question from the Liberal Democrats. They support all the extra spending that is funded by revenue-raising measures, but they oppose…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentI believe this may be the first time that the hon. Member has appeared at the Dispatch Box in his capacity as shadow Minister—if I am wrong about that, I am sorry; but if I am…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleI 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…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentI am relieved to hear that the number of young people not in education, employment or training is dropping in Harlow. The number of such people rose by a quarter of a million in…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleThe 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…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleI 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…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentWhat it will mean for young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and many others, is intensive work coach training, and the chance of training or work experience. If that does…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleI 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,…09 Mar 2026HANSARDUnemploymentMy hon. Friend asks an excellent question. The fact that net migration is falling to lower levels than we have seen for some time gives added urgency to a question that has often…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleWe do want to support jobseekers now. As I said, there is a long-term challenge with youth unemployment, which we are responding to through the measures I have outlined. If we can…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleThe 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…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleThe hon. Gentleman will find that graduate unemployment is an international issue. If we want more non-higher education skills, he should support our plans to stop the decline…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeopleMy 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…09 Mar 2026HANSARDYoung People and Work ReportThe right hon. Alan Milburn is making progress on his report. He brings valuable experience as a former Secretary of State for Health and former chair of the Government’s Social…09 Mar 2026HANSARDSupport for NEET Young PeoplePrecisely because we are tilting the funding more towards youth apprenticeship starts, we will arrest the decline that happened when the hon. Lady’s party were in power. Change…09 Mar 2026