Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of grassroots sports clubs to providing (a) training, (b) experience and (c) other employment related skills as part of the Youth Guarantee Scheme.

Sports, arts and culture play a vital role in our society and economy. They create hundreds of thousands of jobs, drive economic growth, and bring joy to millions. That is why we formed our initial Youth Guarantee partnerships with the Premier League, Channel 4, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Across the country, many national and local organisations already do inspiring work with disadvantaged young people – helping them to build skills, grow in confidence, and access meaningful experiences, qualifications, and employment. DWP already works with organisations such as the English Football League, Rugby Football League, CoachCore and SportsWorks.

We are now exploring opportunities to expand initial Youth Guarantee partnerships by bringing additional organisations from the sports, arts, and culture sectors into national partnerships. For example, in the North West there is a network of grassroots sports organisations that we refer young people to for holistic support through the platform of sport.

In the North West they have found that referring to organisations such as Street League gives our young people access to mentoring, career advice, daily sport and fitness activities, and the opportunity to acquire recognised sports qualifications to pursue careers in the industry.

We continue to build relationships with grassroots and league clubs across the country to expand our network of options. Following insight with young people, we continue to work with organisations to identify gaps in their existing offers and how we can tailor programmes to better suit their needs.

These partnerships will connect young people across the country and offer a wide range of development opportunities – such as apprenticeships, work experience, training courses, and employability programmes. By engaging young people in a shared effort to enter and progress in the workforce, we aim to set them on a path to long-term success.