Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat McFadden and Luke Murphy

Monday 12th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

21. What steps he is taking to support young people into employment.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)]

We have announced an additional £2.5 billion, as part of the youth guarantee, to create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn over the next few years, and we have begun to roll this out across Great Britain. The gateway to the youth guarantee is available in jobcentres. We are expanding youth hubs, we have launched the £3,000 youth jobs grant, and we are rolling out the jobs guarantee for young people who are long-term unemployed. I recently met the first beneficiaries of the jobs guarantee at Boots headquarters in Nottingham and saw the huge difference that having a job made to the young people taking part.

--- Later in debate ---

[Pat McFadden]

Yes, I do agree with my hon. Friend. She is absolutely right to say that we need to invest in opportunity and success, and she has spoken admirably about her own life experiences in this House. As I have said, we are putting forward an additional £2.5 billion of investment in the youth guarantee and the growth and skills levy. We have recently announced that we are expanding the jobs guarantee to help eligible young people receiving health-related benefits. They should not be signed off and written off. Another point raised in her question is that too often in these debates, young people are attacked in a negative narrative in which they are described as “snowflakes” and “shirkers”. She is right to say that, given the chance, young people want to work, want to have a full life and do not want to spend it on benefits.

[Luke Murphy]

Youth hubs such as that based in Inclusion Education in Basingstoke provide fantastic opportunities for young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, to learn and to work. Could the Secretary of State say a bit more about how youth hubs are helping to deliver the youth guarantee so that young people can realise their potential? Having heard that the Minister for Employment opened the youth hub in Uxbridge, may I ask whether the Secretary of State or the Minister might consider a visit to Basingstoke youth hub to discuss young people’s challenges and opportunities?

[Pat McFadden]

When I get back from Derwentside, I will see whether a visit to Basingstoke is popular. Youth hubs are a crucial part of the youth guarantee. They bring together employment and skills, with wider support that often involves housing and health advice. They are an important feature of the Dutch system, where the NEET rate is one third of ours. We are expanding the network to over 360 locations across Great Britain, and the whole idea is to get the help that a jobcentre can provide out of the jobcentre and into the community. There are also other important parts of the youth guarantee, such as hiring bonuses, an extra 300,000 work experience places and a jobs guarantee for the long-term young unemployed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Pat McFadden and Luke Murphy

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

I thank the right hon. Member for his question. I hope to have a good and fruitful dialogue with the civil service unions about pay and many other issues. It is important that we have public servants who feel valued and motivated, and who do their part on delivering the Government’s objectives. On the specific issue of pay that he has raised, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon), the Government will have more to say on civil service pay before the summer recess.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

3. What recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of fraud in public procurement during the covid-19 pandemic.