Jayne Kirkham

I want to speak in the debate because Cornwall probably has more self-employed and small businesses than many other places. Small businesspeople hold businesses together and employ people. They take on the responsibility, risk and privilege of creating jobs for other people. I considered myself as much of a working person when I was an equity partner in a law firm that employed 50 people as I did when I was a teaching assistant. Small businesses do an incredibly important job. I want to talk about a few of them in my constituency. Richard Wakeham at Treveague campsite in Gorran employs six people. We also have Mariners and Harbour Lights, our brilliant fish and chip shops; Bread & Butter in Truro; Fudge & More in St Mawes; and Windjammer, with Oliver running a number of establishments brilliantly. Of course, we have our farmers—I went to see one in Restronguet at the weekend—and then we have publicans like Mark Holden, who runs a number of pubs and has built his hospitality business over 16 years. For many years, Mark has worked hard with young people, setting up apprenticeships and giving training to dozens of Cornish young people. He is working closely with the Government and the Minister for Skills to set up skills training in hospitality down in Cornwall. The motion concentrates on under-25s, so that is what I will focus on. Our young people have struggled, with rising numbers of NEETs, but that has been over a long time, not just the last two years, as the Milburn review made clear. Alan Milburn said that this has been a growing issue, and among the reasons for that are: how SEND provision in schools dropped off under the previous Government; covid, which was a really big issue for young people and hit their confidence; and mental health support, with child and adolescent mental health services having been decimated in the last 15 years. As has been pointed out a number of times, employers pay no national insurance contributions on earnings of up to £50,270 for under-21s, nor for apprentices under 25. That makes a saving of up to £6,790 per employee per year, which was worth £2.5 billion in the last year. Some of the Opposition Members have talked about the minimum wage rises. When the Labour Government first brought in the minimum wage, the figure was similar for everybody over 18, and businesses did not shut down and the economy did not stop, as the Opposition said would happen. When they got into power, they split the minimum wage into three or four different age brackets. That caused an awful lot of problems and inequity, because a 20-year-old’s rent is not cheaper than a 26-year-old’s. In trying to converge those wage differences, we are trying to reintroduce that fairness and the idea of the minimum wage in the first place. This Government have introduced other measures to help small and medium-sized employers take on young people: £2,000 for SMEs that hire apprentices between 16 and 21; free training for under-25 apprentices; the youth jobs grant, with £3,000 for every young person hired; and the jobs guarantee, which is coming in, for fully subsidised jobs for six months, with the Government covering 100% of the employment costs. There are a thousand people in that first pilot. There is a lot of work to be done. Under-25s have struggled for many reasons over a number of years, not just because of the job market. What we have to do, and what the Milburn review will make very clear in the next few weeks that we should do, is support those young people to overcome their barriers and help employers to employ them again.