Baroness Sherlock (Lab)

My Lords, I can only assume the noble Lord did not hear what I said in my opening speech. If he wants to talk about having a million people who are NEET, I point out again that in the three years running up to the last election, the number of young people not in education, employment or training rose by 250,000, up to almost a million. I am not trying to make this anybody else’s problem; I am trying to make this a problem for us as a country. We were the people who stood up and said, “This is not acceptable”. One in eight is not acceptable; it is not in the interests of our country. Where I absolutely agree with the noble Lord is that young people want a future. Our job is to persuade them that they can have it, to show them that they can have it, to give them the skills to get it, and to give them the chance to get the jobs that will give them a foot in the door to go out there and do it. This Government are investing in that because we believe in and care about our young people. Even if the country did not—and we really do—the country needs them. We are an ageing society, and we need our young people. Without their gifts, talents and future, we all suffer. So we are doing this for them and for the country, and I am proud that we are.