Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including trade union representatives to the Youth Guarantee Advisory Panel.

The Youth Guarantee Advisory Panel is made up of young people aged 18-24 from diverse backgrounds who bring valuable lived experience of overcoming barriers to accessing and participating in education, employment or training. Its purpose is to provide direct insight from young people with lived experience of not being in education, employment or training, ensuring their voices shape policy development.

The panel has been established jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Education (DfE) in collaboration with our partners, Youth Futures Foundation (YFF) and Youth Employment UK (YEUK), who are responsible for recruiting and safeguarding young people involved.

DWP recognises the important role that the trade unions can play in a modern workplace, including the benefits that effective engagement between employers and unions can bring. The Department continues to engage regularly with trade unions on a range of areas of policy development.