Lord St John of Bletso
Main Page: Lord St John of Bletso (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)(3 days, 21 hours ago)
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Lord Katz (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that question. She makes an essential point about growing young people’s aspiration and potential, as well as about the future of our economy and of our country. I am pleased to tell her that the Government are supporting more young people into work through our new youth guarantee for all young people aged 18 to 21, including young people with health conditions, to ensure they can access quality training opportunities and apprenticeships, or help to find work. This includes targeted support for young people with learning disabilities. In the other place, we heard the Chancellor set out in the spending review record investment in training and upskilling young people, with £1.2 billion a year by the end of the spending review. That is on top of a record £3 billion spent on the apprenticeships budgets for 2025-26, which is the largest spend on apprenticeships ever. All I will say is that, unlike the previous Government, we are not letting our young people down. They are our future, we have hope for them, and they will deliver for us.
Lord St John of Bletso (CB)
My Lords, can the Minister tell us what assessment has been made of the impact of artificial intelligence on the job market? What measures are being taken to reskill the workforce?
Lord Katz (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for his question. He, like me, will be waiting with bated breath for the publication of the Government’s industrial strategy White Paper, which will set out the Government’s approach to investing in eight priority sectors—those deemed most likely to drive UK economic growth. It will not surprise the noble Lord or, indeed, the House that digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, will be one of the sectors right at the heart of the Government’s industrial strategy. As I have set out, we have a youth guarantee to deliver a record spend for young people. Ensuring they can take advantage of the opportunities of AI will be at the heart of making that work.