Young People and Work: Milburn Interim Report

Scott Arthur Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Lilian Greenwood)]

As ever, it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham (Andrew Ranger) on securing this important debate. I know that he has paid significant attention to the NEET crisis, and as he has rightly said before, this cannot be treated as just another political issue. It is one of the most serious social and economic challenges facing the country, as is clear from the fact that 20 Back-Bench Members have spoken in this debate—it is just disappointing that the official Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden), is the only representative of his party here.

This challenge requires Government, business and others, including the third sector, to come together to tackle it and to treat doing so as a national cause—a moral mission, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham said. It is for those reasons that the Government commissioned Alan Milburn’s independent report. We asked him to get under the bonnet of this issue and look across the piece at the deep-rooted causes of long-term trends that have led to almost 1 million young people being stuck on the sidelines, not in education, employment or training—I gently remind the Opposition spokesperson that that number rose by 250,000 between 2021 and 2024, and that youth apprenticeship starts fell by 40% over a decade. Those are young people with talent, ambition and potential who, for too long, have not had the opportunities or support they need to succeed.

As the interim report makes clear, the challenge goes deeper than that headline figure. Around 60% of young people who are NEET are economically inactive, and six in 10 have never had a job. This Government will not accept a generation being left behind. We recognise that there is no single cause of rising economic inactivity among young people. Poor physical and mental health, disengagement from education, a lack of qualifications, limited work experience and difficulty navigating a changing labour market can all play a part. That is why our response must be comprehensive and co-ordinated across education, health, welfare, skills, employers and employment services. Alan Milburn’s final report and recommendations are coming soon, but this Government are already taking action.

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

The Minister listed some of the drivers of the problem, one of which, as many Members mentioned, is transport links, particularly for people in rural communities. As she will remember, the Transport Committee recommended that to help solve the problem, the Government should look seriously at Scotland and institute free bus travel for young people in England. Will the Government look at that again?

[Lilian Greenwood]

I agree with my hon. Friend that provision of affordable and convenient transport is vital. I shall leave that to my colleagues in the Department for Transport.

At the heart of the Government’s current approach is the youth guarantee, which will be backed by an additional £2.5 billion by 2029, alongside investment in the growth and skills levy. Together, that funding will support almost 1 million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn or learn. We are strengthening support at every stage of a young person’s journey, and through an expanded network of youth hubs and the youth guarantee gateway, young people will receive earlier and more intensive support.

We owe young people that support. As my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) said, this generation has faced, and is facing, a unique combination of challenges. They are not to blame for their predicament; it is the system that has failed them. As many hon. Members have said, the interim Milburn report found that 84% of NEET young people want to find a job, education or training—and I agree that we need to find a better acronym. The will is there, but it needs to be matched by support and opportunities. We are giving employers practical incentives to create those, including the £3,000 youth jobs grant and a £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment. Also, I remind all hon. Members that employers pay zero national insurance on employees who are under the age of 21 and earn less than £50,000.

Our wider reform of employment support also matters. The new jobs and careers service will bring together employment, skills and career support, with stronger links between employers, local areas and people looking for work. The objective is simple: to have a service focused not on processing people, but on helping them to find work, build skills and progress. Personalised support will be at the heart of our approach, to help people to access the support that best meets their needs. We have launched new digital tools, expanded community-based delivery and strengthened our employer offer.

We are also increasing access to work experience and training, which will play a critical role in breaking that age-old cycle—no experience, no job; and no job, no experience. My hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) got her first chance at a vet’s, and my Saturday job was at the newly opened Superdrug in Bolton. Such opportunities help us to learn what work is like, but far too many young people have not been getting them. Therefore, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) highlighted, work experience is as important as, if not more important than, ever.

However, where unemployment becomes entrenched, we must go further. That is why the jobs guarantee will offer eligible 18 to 24-year-olds who have been claiming universal credit and looking for work for 18 months a fully subsidised, six-month paid job. That offer is already changing lives for the better. In August, the Secretary of State came to Boots in Nottingham to meet young people who are benefiting from the jobs guarantee. He spoke about how remarkable it was to see the transformation in their self-belief, confidence and hope for the future. We are going to see more of that. Following the first phase of the programme, national roll-out will begin this month across 25 areas. The programme is expected to support more than 90,000 young people over the next three years.

Crucially, we are also extending that opportunity to eligible young disabled people and young people with long-term health conditions. The hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) will be pleased to hear that from April 2027, eligible young people receiving health-related benefits can voluntarily take up that offer shortly after their work capability assessments. They are going to the front of the queue, because nobody should be written off because of their health. Through programmes including Connect to Work, WorkWell, Access to Work and disability employment advisers, we are bringing employment and health support closer together. Our approach recognises that different people face different combinations of barriers and that we must see people in the round and take a joined-up approach to how we offer support.

We also know that we cannot solve this challenge only when a young person walks through the jobcentre door. Prevention must begin much earlier. There is a strong relationship, as hon. Members have said, between disengagement from school and becoming NEET later in life. That is why improving attendance is fundamental to our approach. We have set a national ambition to increase school attendance to over 94% by 2028-29, and we are supporting schools through clearer expectations, better data and new RISE—regional improvement for standards and excellence—attendance and behaviour hubs. Alongside those actions, we are fixing the broken SEND system and reforming careers provision so that young people have greater exposure to the workplace before they leave education.

I mentioned earlier how crucial work experience is. That is why our ambition is for every young person to receive two weeks of meaningful workplace experience during secondary school, building progressively through key stages 3 and 4. There are 44 careers hubs supporting that work, while additional provision is targeted towards young people who face the greatest barriers.