Young People and Work: Milburn Interim Report

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Lilian Greenwood]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are aware of that issue and we are setting about addressing it.

Alongside all those measures, we are reforming post-16 education so that young people can have clearer academic, technical and vocational routes. We are transforming the apprenticeship levy, backed by an additional £1 billion, supporting 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships. New foundation apprenticeships, fully funded apprenticeships for eligible under-25s and additional support for employers will all create more routes into skilled employment. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) rightly said, the skills needs are changing in the world of AI.

These reforms represent significant action, but we recognise that the Government must continue to listen and learn. Alan Milburn’s interim report set out starkly the scale and complexity of the participation challenge facing this generation. Our ambition is straightforward: wherever a young person starts from, whatever barriers they face, they should have a genuine route into education, training or good work. I hope that reassures my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central.

Achieving that ambition means intervening earlier and joining up services across departmental boundaries, as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) said. It means working with employers, colleges and local organisations such as those highlighted by many hon. Members, including Saints Works in Southampton, the Spear Programme in York and Making It in Aylesbury, because, as my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) said, place-based solutions show great results. It also means refusing to accept that any young person is destined to remain outside opportunity. I should have said that it also means better public transport, especially in rural areas, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) and my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (John Whitby) emphasised.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

It is worth noting that 13% of NEETs are university graduates. I meet many people who have just graduated with good degrees from good universities, who are applying for more than 300 jobs and not even getting a response. There is very little talk about support for graduates, and we are disappointed that in the Budget there was no mention of reforming the student loan system that is adding pressure on them. Will the Minister assure us that the Government are looking at the student loan system?

[Lilian Greenwood]

I can assure the hon. Member that we are considering the issues for graduates, as well as for younger people leaving school with lower-level qualifications.

Tackling the NEET challenge is not only an economic imperative, important as that is; it is about fairness, aspiration and ensuring that every young person has the chance to build a better future. We look forward to the publication of the final “Young People and work” report in the coming weeks. Its findings will provide an important opportunity to consider what more must be done to address the challenges facing young people today, and to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to participate, to progress and to thrive.

Getting Britain Working Again

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

One of the main barriers to people getting back into work is poor mental health. We have very long mental health waiting lists, with a million people on them. Many of those people would rather be in work, and it is also good for their mental health to be in work.

I want to highlight a initiative in Winchester that I have brought up before. It has won awards, including NHS awards. It involves Winchester citizens advice providing a person for two days a week in the local mental health unit, which is called Melbury Lodge, to help in-patients with all their life admin. People who are suffering from mental health issues, especially in-patients, are more likely than average to have debt, housing issues and other life admin problems such that, when they get discharged, they are back in the same situation as when they were admitted in the first place, and their mental health can deteriorate.

The initiative is fantastic. It has been proven, through published peer-reviewed papers, that the people involved have a shorter duration of stay, are less likely to be readmitted and are more likely to engage with social services once they are discharged. Ministers will find it particularly interesting that every £1 spent on the project saves the NHS £14.08 through cost avoidance. I have met the team several times. Rolling it out in every mental health unit in the country seems like an absolute no-brainer. Given that it saves so much money and that the saving is so quick, there is no question that it cannot be afforded. This is not an investment that takes five, six or seven years to pay off; the savings are seen within months.

I urge the Government to look at the project. I would be keen to have a meeting with the relevant Minister—whoever the relevant Minister turns out to be—and the team who are running this project, Winchester citizens advice and the Melbury Lodge unit. It could be hugely impactful in helping many thousands of people to get back into work. That is good for the staff, the patients and the taxpayer.

We were heartened that the previous King’s Speech specifically stated that mental health would be treated as seriously as physical health. We were disappointed there was not a specific mention of mental health in this year’s King’s Speech. We urge the Government to remember to put the issue at the forefront of their efforts to try to get people back into work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend brings valuable experience to this matter, including his experience of teaching engineering apprentices at the University of Nottingham. We are committed to ensuring that disadvantaged young people have access to high-quality apprenticeships and can benefit from the new jobs being created in places such as Erewash as a result of the changes in how the growth and skills levy is used—as I have explained in response to earlier questions—and the extension of youth hubs in the region to give young people who may not be claiming benefit or undertaking an apprenticeship the chance of finding that vital first job.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

Sophia, whom I spoke to in my constituency office in Winchester this morning, is one of many recent graduates—often with really good degrees from really good universities—who have been applying for hundreds of jobs and not even receiving replies. Has the Department carried out an assessment of the impact of artificial intelligence, in all its forms, on graduate employment prospects over the next few years? What work has been done with universities and institutions that offer apprenticeships to ensure that young people are graduating with the right set of skills to be able to work in this era of artificial intelligence?

[Pat McFadden]

The 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 similar debate about graduate unemployment is taking place. The truth is that structural developments are happening in the labour market. Technology is undergoing a big shift, and I think that all Governments must ask themselves how to help young people through this transition. The one thing that we cannot do is abandon them to it: we have to train people, and we have to ensure that the UK is best placed to take advantage of this big technological shift.

Oral Answers to Questions

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Monday 27th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I am not sure why the news of the transition did not reach Somerset; the plans have been quite well publicised. We have put in place a careful enhanced support journey for people, including a number of people on ESA, who might struggle with the transition. The hon. Gentleman raises a particular case, but if there are other cases where there are difficulties, we are able to provide extra support to ensure that people can make the transition without hardship.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

5. How many people are in receipt of carer’s allowance.

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

Some 975,000 people are being paid carer’s allowance in England and Wales, including some 900 people in the hon. Member’s constituency.

[Dr Chambers]

We all know that carers give everything to care for their loved ones—physically, emotionally and financially. The Government received the carer’s allowance report three months ago, and under Lib Dem pressure have agreed to publish it by the end of the year. Do we know how many carers will be unfairly penalised in the six months between the Government receiving the report and publishing it?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

I agree with the hon. Member’s characterisation of the degree of commitment and sacrifice being made by very large numbers of carers right across the country. As he has said, the report, which we commissioned from Liz Sayce, will be published by the end of the year, together with the Government’s response—and his question will be addressed in that response.

Oral Answers to Questions

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Stephen Timms]

My hon. Friend is right that there has been a particularly big increase in mental health problems among young people. Given what the last Government did, I can well understand people being worried. We will continue to support people with mental health problems in the health and disability benefits system. The proposals for reform we will bring forward in the spring will make sure the system is fit for purpose and fair to the taxpayer, and they will deliver the support in work that people such as my hon. Friend’s constituents need.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

The Child Poverty Action Group has reported that 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty. In a classroom of 30, that is nine children living in poverty. Given that the Government have ruled out scrapping the two-child benefit cap, will the Minister commit to publishing measurable targets for reducing child poverty during this Parliament?

[Alison McGovern]

As I have already mentioned in a number of responses, we understand the scale and seriousness of the problem the hon. Member mentions. We have already published the terms of reference for the child poverty taskforce, and we will continue to keep the House updated as we move forward, given the seriousness of the issue.