Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Lord Laming
Main Page: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Laming's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
I can absolutely confirm that to my noble friend. Since my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions took on the role, it has been a key priority to tackle the 900,000 young people who are neither earning nor learning. That level is far too high and has been in existence for far too long. That is the reasoning behind the investment this Government are making in the youth guarantee, for example.
Lord Laming (CB)
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister will agree that lifelong learning needs to be based upon a strong foundation, which has at its heart valuing education. That means that all parents should ensure that their children get into school, stay in school regularly and value the education that is on offer.
Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Lord is absolutely right. That is why we celebrate the 5 million additional days that children have been in school over the last year. In our schools White Paper we set a further challenging target to get young people back into school and attending full-time. The noble Lord is right that we need the support of parents to do that.