Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support young people into education in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.

On 20 October, we published the Post-16 education and skills white paper, outlining reforms to build a world-class skills system and support young people into education and training. This includes a target for two-thirds of young people to participate in higher-level learning (academic, technical, or apprenticeships) by age 25.

A new Youth Guarantee will support young people to access to education, training, or provide help into work or an apprenticeship. Eight trailblazer areas are testing ways to help those at risk of becoming not in education, employment, or training.

The department will invest nearly £800 million more in 16 to 19 education in 2026/27, helping support high quality teacher recruitment and retention. We will also pilot an automatic guaranteed provider place for all 16-year-olds.

We will introduce targeted, means-tested maintenance grants before the end of this parliament to help students from low-income backgrounds progress onto higher education courses that support our missions and Industrial Strategy.