Youth Unemployment

Viscount Younger of Leckie Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

On the first question, we are not working only with those who are on benefits. Some of the specific elements of the programme are for those who are on universal credit, either for six months or 18 months, and looking for work. However, we are really concerned about those young people who are not in education, employment or training, who are not appearing in the benefits system and who are not on the radar—they are sometimes called “hidden NEETs”. They may not be in the system and may be living with parents or elsewhere—none the less, they are out there. The youth guarantee is about reaching all NEETs, including those not on benefits. That was a key element of the youth guarantee trailblazers, backed by £90 million-worth of funding, which sought to find innovative ways to reach young people outside the benefits system whom we do not already have on our radar. Mayoral strategic authorities are looking into ways that work in their locality. We are trying to make sure that we reach those people too.

The point about the future is very important: nobody wants to be the person who takes an apprenticeship in gas lights just at the point when electricity comes to town. We need to find a way to make sure that young people go into jobs with a future. While one can never be sure, we are developing new apprenticeship units that are aligned specifically with the priorities of the industrial strategy, and we hope that that will help. That includes AI, construction and engineering, and we will develop future units as it goes forward by going with the grain—to echo my noble friend Lord Reid’s comment—of where the economy is going and what employers need. We have to create a future for young people.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

My Lords, preparing young people for work should start within the school system—that was touched on in questions from the Benches opposite. Can the Minister say what efforts are being made, working with the DfE, to include career management and education? Surely the earlier the young are set on the right path, the better.

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

The noble Viscount makes a very important point. We have the great advantage now that my noble friend Lady Smith is the Minister for Skills both in the Department for Education and in the Department for Work and Pensions. That synergy is already proving very helpful, and so we are able to have very good conversations with our colleagues in the DfE. As he knows, in the DWP, by creating the new jobs and careers service, we are trying to make sure that we bring these things together at the outset so that we help people to get not just a single job but the opportunity to develop a career that will carry them forward. He makes an important point, and we will keep looking at this.