Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
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Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I give huge thanks to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for securing this very important debate. The question is: do we need a Minister for men and boys? I would say that ideally we do not, but we already have a Minister for women—in fact, we have the Women and Equalities Committee. We have to ask ourselves why we need these things especially for women. Is perhaps because, as a society, we feel that women are discriminated against? I think they probably are—we all know that and all agree with that. That is one of the reasons I sat on the Women and Equalities Committee in the last Parliament. But what about men? What about men and boys? What about young boys? What about white working-class young boys?
Boys and young men have historically been very useful to our society, especially when we needed coal mined, steel made in mills in the north, or factories filled with labourers to do back-breaking hard work. Young men and boys were also very useful when it came to fighting wars. They were dragged away from their towns and villages to be killed on a foreign battlefield. Even now, we send young lads to foreign fields, and they come back—at least some of them do—missing legs or arms. Even worse, some come back in a coffin, and we all say, “What a great young man he was. What a lot of great friends he had. He was a comrade. He was brave,” and so on, and in a few days we forget about him, and we leave the family to pick up the pieces and live a lifetime of grief. But these days, a lot of young men have no idea what they will do with their lives when they leave school. The pits and the coalmines have gone. Industry has declined. Net zero is killing once thriving industries in the north and the midlands—industries that took young men straight from school into the workplace, where they would spend 30 or 40 years.
Meanwhile the lawmakers in this place—some idiotic lawmakers sometimes—do not have a clue about what young men and boys are going through. Instead, they talk about white privilege, and they tell boys that they need to go on courses to not be misogynistic. That is absolutely shameful. We take all the opportunities away from young men and boys and then tell them that they are to blame for the way women are tret in this country. That is nonsense. The Centre for Social Justice tells us that boys and men are increasingly falling behind in education, employment and social wellbeing—a phenomenon often called a hidden crisis. Well, it is not a hidden crisis; it is out there in plain sight. Girls consistently outperform boys at school. We have rising loneliness, a lack of opportunities and a lack of positive role models for young men, especially in working-class communities.
Who is to blame for all this? I think this place is to blame—I truly do. We have produced a benefits system that does not encourage the family unit any more. Sometimes it is more profitable to be a single parent at home—it is mainly women, if we are honest. A lot of these women are left to bring up boys on their own, with no male role model in the house. These young boys then go to infant school and primary school, where we hardly ever see a male teacher any more. In some of the schools I visit, there is not a single male teacher. The first proper role model that some of these young lads see is when they get to senior school. It is absolutely shocking. Is it any wonder that our young men are confused and do not have any direction? In fact, some of the only interactions these young men have are with the local bobby, when they have been in trouble on the street.
It was different for me in my day. I grew up listening to my dad’s alarm clock going off every morning at 5 o’clock. He would get up and go and do a shift down the pit. Then, a few years later, he would get me up, and I would go down the pit with my dad. He was my role model. Every single lad in our village had a role model, because of the family unit. My dad was my role model, and for many other kids in the village, their dads were theirs.
I strongly believe that this place has broken our society, and it never takes any responsibility. We have MPs in this place, including the Prime Minister—I want to have a go now—telling young boys that they must watch BBC programmes like “Adolescence” because of the way women are treated. We are blaming young boys for the way women are treated. I would say, yes, let them watch this programme, but make girls watch it as well. As a society, we should all be watching these things. We need a Minister for young men and boys to put right the wrongs created in this place.
The Minister for Equalities (Olivia Bailey)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his interesting speech. His party has recently announced that it would like to scrap the Department for women and equalities, so how does his statement sit with that commitment? He also wants to scrap the Equality Act 2010. Does he recognise that the Act actually protects men and boys from discrimination on the basis of their sex?
Lee Anderson
I think we could make the Equality Act much better. We do not have to have an Equality Act in this country. On the Minister’s first point, in this country we should not really need a Minister for women, and we should not really need a Minister for men. We should probably have a Minister for people—as simple as that. Why are we discriminating? Why are we separating the two? We are all human beings. We are all people.
I talk about young men having no direction, and I want to talk about one particular group. Young men in the care system go through foster care and care homes from four or five years old. Some of them lead terrible lives. They are pushed from pillar to post. I know, because I worked in a hostel for homeless young people before I came to this place. I saw at first hand these kids coming to us at 16 years old—young men and girls. Like I say, they had been pushed from pillar to post, had no positive role model in their lives and had been in trouble with the police. As a society, we completely let down these young men. Where did they go when they left the hostel? I’ll tell you where they went: mainly to prison. We could do very little with them in the two years that we had them, because they had had a lifetime of upset, with their parents and grandparents abandoning them.
I always say that it would have been cheaper to take these young kids, at four and five, out of the care system and give them a proper education. Put them in a boarding school, give them the best training possible, and break the poverty cycle. Give them a career and a chance in life, but we do not. We put them through the care system, and then sometimes through the penal system. Every single one of the girls who left the hostel was pregnant. Do we know why that is? I’ll tell you why: it was the only way they could get a house—a council house—and a regular supply of benefits. What a terrible thing we are doing in this country. This place has created a society in which young people are failing, and we have the cheek to sit here, scratching our heads, wondering how we can put it right.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)
It is always an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I express my gratitude to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for opening the debate and for his commitment to tackling the issues facing many men and boys. I thank him and other hon. Members, whose thoughtful and varied contributions have led to a worthwhile debate and showed the range of challenges men encounter in today’s world, including problems with their health, their work, their family life or harmful influences online.
Specific ministerial positions and titles are, of course, a matter for the Prime Minister, so I am sure hon. Members will forgive me for not commenting on that in detail, but I assure them that not having the word “men” in our titles does not prevent me or any of my colleagues from working hard to support men and boys across our country. Indeed, two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a thought-provoking debate on educational outcomes for boys, where I was able to share some of what the Government are doing about the challenges facing boys in schools.
Lee Anderson
It is great that the Minister is doing work with young boys, but does she agree that boys can be boys and girls can be girls, especially growing up through school? Does she think it is helpful that boys are told they can go to school in dresses?
Olivia Bailey
I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. I think it is important that we support children to have a happy, healthy and enjoyable childhood.
As a mum of two boys, I am well aware of the challenges facing our boys in schools, and as an Equalities Minister, I am pleased to be able to work with colleagues across Government to take action on those issues. The Equality Act 2010 requires the interests of both and women to be considered when all Ministers make decisions and when officials implement policies. We are committed to supporting men and boys in all areas where they face disadvantage, recognising that too many are really struggling with the challenges in our society today.
Olivia Bailey
I will come on to discuss that issue in more detail. Some of the issues that the Minister for Women and Equalities would cover include our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls or inequality in the workplace. I will come on to talk in more detail about the things the Government are doing for men and boys.
As I said, we are committed to supporting men and boys in all areas where they face disadvantage, recognising that too many are struggling with the challenges in our society today. That is why the Prime Minister has asked the Deputy Prime Minister to lead work across Government to improve outcomes for men and boys. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been set up to support Ministers in this work, which includes a specific focus on convening and co-ordinating work across Departments so that we can ensure a joined-up approach that delivers meaningful and measurable change. The Prime Minister has also committed to holding a national summit on men and boys later this year to bring together key sector partners, and we will share more details on that in due course.
The hon. Members for Hinckley and Bosworth and for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt) and my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott) spoke about the distinct issues that men face in our healthcare system. That is something the Government are acutely aware of, and last year we published England’s first ever men’s health strategy, reflecting many of the concerns rightly raised by speakers today. Drawn up in partnership with men themselves, experts, men’s groups, charities and campaigners, the strategy directly addresses some of the health challenges and disadvantages that men face. It sets out how we are improving men’s access to health services and enabling men to make healthier choices. It also outlines how to tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, including mental health and suicide, respiratory illness, prostate cancer and heart disease. We are now focused on implementing the commitments set out in the strategy, including how partnerships and stakeholders can support and champion the strategy and its implementation.
On mental health specifically, Members have made thoughtful contributions today, and I thank them for sharing powerful stories. I particularly liked the anecdote told by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) about his mother and “hanging a fiddle on the door”. I thought that was a powerful example of what we are talking about.
Around three in four of the people who died by suicide in 2024 were men, with 25% of incidents being among middle-aged men alone. We are determined to tackle this inequality. Our men’s health strategy includes investment in community-based health and suicide prevention programmes and a new partnership with the Premier League to ensure men know where to go for mental health support. We have also announced the suicide prevention pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This programme, co-designed with experts and men with lived experience, will tackle the barriers men face in seeking support.
More widely, the Government have already taken significant steps to improve NHS mental health services, including hiring almost 7,000 extra mental health workers since July 2024. And thanks to an increase in NHS talking therapies, more adults with anxiety and depression are getting back into work.
I also want to highlight the work the Government are doing to support boys and young men, in particular. My hon. Friends the Members for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) and for Ipswich and the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) raised the challenges they face growing up in today’s society. In particular, comments were made about the importance of school readiness; as I am also the Minister for Early Education, I am determined that we address that issue, as we drive towards record numbers of our children being ready for school.
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed across every phase of education. Disadvantaged boys and young men face some of the steepest barriers to success. Over £28 million has been committed to drive standards in reading and writing, particularly for those who need the most support, including boys who underperform in English. That is alongside the National Year of Reading in 2026. The campaign is aimed at everyone, because the decline in reading enjoyment is an issue across all sectors of society. However, there is a focus on boys aged 10 to 16, parents from disadvantaged communities, and other priority groups.
A number of Members spoke about the importance of boys having positive male role models. I agree entirely about the importance of that, but we do need to be careful not to stray into criticising what types of families can bring up brilliant boys. The hon. Member for Strangford rightly said that women can be brilliant role models too. I want to be really clear from the Dispatch Box that single mums can bring up brilliant boys, just as my wife and I can bring up brilliant boys.
Tessa Munt
Does the Minister believe that men can bring up children really well as well?
Olivia Bailey
I absolutely do, and I thank the hon. Member for that important intervention.
Role models begin in schools, which is why it is important that we address the under-representation of men across the education workforce. Although this is broadly in line with international trends, we want to see more male teachers in our classrooms and in other education settings. To attract more men into teaching and address barriers, we ensure that men are featured regularly in the teacher recruitment marketing campaign “Every Lesson Shapes a Life”, with men in the focal role in its last two TV campaigns. The campaign to promote early years careers has also produced new adverts specifically to target men.
Outside of education, too many young men today are struggling with loneliness, and we know the devastating consequences that that can have for both their mental health and our communities. Our plans for improving social connection and reducing loneliness are embedded across Government policy, including through the national youth strategy and the men’s health strategy. The Government are also investing more than £300,000 to help Rugby League Cares give boys and young men a renewed sense of community, purpose and belonging.
A number of other comments were made in the debate. I am conscious of time, but the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire talked about homelessness and the criminal justice system. My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich talked about the role of family hubs, and today I was in a fantastic family hub in Camden, where staff talked to me about the work they are doing with fathers, which is really exciting and a key part of our work moving forward.
The hon. Member for Wells and Mendip Hills asked for an update on the parental leave review. The review will run for approximately 18 months, but I will be happy to follow up in writing if she would like further details.
Mims Davies
The Minister has rightly outlined strategies and different strands across Government. Could she set out whether there those strategies are driving at any particular outcomes, including around young offenders and other areas, so that we can track whether they are having the desired outcomes in our constituencies?
Olivia Bailey
I thank the hon. Lady for her helpful intervention. I point back to the work the Deputy Prime Minister is doing, as well as to the summit the Prime Minister will be doing later this year.
In conclusion, I thank again all hon. Members who have spoken in today’s important debate. Whether as role models, allies or mentors, men can inspire and encourage us all. As we celebrate the wonderful contributions that men and boys make to their families, schools, communities and workplaces, we must work together to help them tackle the challenges they face in life. It is clear that Members across the House share our goal of making sure that men and boys are given the support they need.