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Lord Young of Cookham (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 24 March 2026

Debate

Youth Unemployment

Contribution

My Lords, I welcome the foundation apprenticeships in hospitality and retail. These sectors of the economy traditionally provided the first job for young people, but they have been hard hit by changes to the minimum wage and national insurance, and so this is a welcome counterbalance. On 18 November, one of your Lordships’ Select Committees produced a report that focused on youth unemployment. We went to Blackpool and made a number of recommendations. We should have had a government response by 18 January, but four months later, we have still not had one. I know it is not the Minister’s responsibility, but I suggest that it is a discourtesy to the House. One of our recommendations was that there should be a target for reducing the number of young people who are unemployed. There is a target in the post-education and skills White Paper. If there is a target for them, why can we not have a target for NEETs?

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