Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on equality of access to opportunity for 16 to 24 year olds.

We know that young people’s employment prospects in particular are expected to be disproportionately affected in the coming months. When a young person is not in education, employment or training (NEET) it is rarely temporary. When 18-24 year-olds are NEET for 3 months, three-quarters of them will stay NEET for at least a year.

That is why in July, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £1.6 billion of investment to scale up employment support schemes and training for people affected by Covid-19. This includes over £500 million in a package of support to ensure young people have the skills and training to go on to high quality, secure and fulfilling employment. This includes:

• A new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Employers can start claiming for payments from 1 September.
• £111 million to triple the scale of traineeships: with three times more funding available to providers in 2020-21 to support 30,000 new places. We have also introduced – for the first time - payments of £1,000 per trainee for employers who offer new or additional work placements (up to 10 trainees).
• £101 million for a brand new offer to give 18 and 19-year-old school and college leavers the opportunity to study high value Level 2 and 3 courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them.
• £32 million over two years to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service.
• £17 million to triple the number of sector-based work academy programme placements in 2020/21, enough funding to support an extra 40,000 job seekers with additional training opportunities and the chance of a job.

It is also more crucial than ever before that we tap into the brilliant talent that our country has to offer, and make sure that university places are available to all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so.