Minister for Men and Boys

Maya Ellis Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jack Abbott (Ipswich) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for securing this debate and for his ongoing commitment to tackling the challenges facing men and boys.

Let me begin with the reality in my constituency. As has been said, some of the inequalities that we see today are baked in before school starts. One in three boys in Ipswich starts school without the foundation skills that they need to succeed. Those young boys are full of potential, yet they struggle early with reading, numeracy and social and emotional development—issues only exacerbated by the pandemic. At the very start of their lives, they are already facing a steep uphill climb that threatens to define not only their entire educational journey but their life chances.

[Maya Ellis (Ribble Valley) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that parents of men and boys are navigating a truly wild west? Although it is brilliant that the Government are committed to helping teachers to spot and navigate misogyny in schools, the fact is that parents are the ones at the coalface, especially in the early years. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking those parents who work really hard every day to raise kind, confident and compassionate boys who we are very proud of?

[Jack Abbott]

I am delighted to do that. I know that my hon. Friend is a great mum to her little children. I will come to the really important issues that she highlights later in my speech.

As has been said, we need co-ordinated, well-funded action across Departments, across Government and across our country. We must confront the real challenges in educational attainment. By the age of five, children are assessed against the early years foundation stage framework. A good level of development involves meeting milestones in communication, literacy and mathematics. That foundation is essential for primary success, GCSEs and, eventually, securing stable employment. If a child is behind at five and is struggling to communicate or manage emotions, they are far more likely to fall even further behind. That gap affects their confidence and shapes what they believe, whether they feel that university or a high-skilled apprenticeship is within reach, and whether they feel equipped to navigate the world of work.

In 2024, a Suffolk county council report showed that only 62% of boys—less than two thirds—achieve a good level of development by the age of five, compared with 79% of girls. Boys are more likely to start school struggling with the skills that underpin all later learning. Although it is important to note that girls absolutely face their own challenges, we must provide targeted interventions so that every child can thrive.

As a child progresses, the gaps continue. By key stage 2, boys from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately represented among those failing to reach the expected standards. In Suffolk, that manifests in a worrying 14.6% rate of persistent absenteeism in secondary schools. When boys disengage from the classroom, they lose the sense of belonging and the structure that school provides, which often leads to a cycle of isolation. In Ipswich, the deprivation gap has hit nearly two years: people from lower income backgrounds at GCSE are nearly two years behind their peers. But it all starts in early years: by the time they enter reception, at the age of four, they are already six months behind.

We need a strategy that understands how class, place and gender can collide to hold our young people back. The solutions lie in practical, evidence-based action. Early intervention, targeted literacy support, mentoring for at-risk boys and mental health initiatives are all vital, but we must act decisively. The Government have already taken steps to address the root causes of disengagement, starting with the men’s health strategy, released towards the end of last year. It is not just a policy document; it is the first strategy to recognise that a boy’s physical health and mental resilience are the primary drivers of his ability to concentrate in a classroom. By tackling health inequalities early, we can ensure that young boys’ underdiagnosed anxiety or physical development delays do not become lifelong barriers to their education.

Similarly, our expanded early years provision and family hubs are transforming school readiness. In Ipswich, they will act as a vital one-stop shop, providing parents with speech and language therapy and parental support before a child reaches his first day at school. For a young boy who might otherwise start reception unable to communicate his needs, leading to frustration, such hubs provide early intervention that can prevent a cycle of exclusion. These measures offer some sort of stability. They ensure that school readiness is a reality, not a slogan, by supporting the home environment and the child simultaneously. They demonstrate precisely why the solution lies in ensuring that policies are co-ordinated, well-resourced and effectively delivered in communities such as Ipswich.

It has been said, rightly, by Members across the Chamber that boys in themselves are not the problem, but we have to recognise and be honest with ourselves about the dangers they are facing at the moment, particularly online. Andrew Tate was mentioned just a moment ago. I am loath to repeat his name too often, but we have to remember that he has been charged by not just our country’s Crown Prosecution Service, but authorities in many other countries around the world. He is charged with rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. I know how many young boys at the moment look to him as some sort of—

--- Later in debate ---

[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.

[Maya Ellis]

Does the hon. Member agree that one of the things that has caused a lack of male role models is the lack of third spaces and youth centres? The disinvestment in youth services, which I think averaged about 70% per local authority under the previous Government, has led to a lot of the reduction in role models in the third spaces and youth areas, and in youth funding, and that this Government have reinvested in that.

[Lee Anderson]

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. She may have a point about care centres and whatever, but I go back. It is the family unit and the lack of male family role models that have caused this problem. We have to decide: do we want the state to provide role models for children, or do we want the family, friends, neighbours and schools to provide the male role models? I think it should be the family.