Jobs for Young People
Thursday, 15 October 2026
Contributions
Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury) (Con)Conservative
1. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the creation of jobs for young people.
Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)Conservative
5. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the creation of jobs for young people.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)Labour (Co-op)
Everything my Department does—from industrial strategy, small business support, trade and exports to innovation and science—has the creation of good jobs at the heart of it. In the UK, there are challenges around jobs for young people, no doubt, but youth unemployment has shown to be outperforming that of comparable economies such as France and Italy, and the Government have a further agenda in this area.
The wonderful family-run Ice Cream Farm in Tattenhall is one of our region’s largest youth employers, giving many young people their very first job, but the current rules limit children below school-leaving age to just two hours’ work on Sundays, even during school holidays. For businesses in rural areas, where parents often have to drive considerable distances to get their kids to work, this simply is not practical. Will the Secretary of State review the restriction while maintaining important safeguards, so that businesses such as the Ice Cream Farm can offer more young people vital first work experience?
I appreciate the hon. Lady’s question. This subject has come up with me before, both on a constituency basis and as the Secretary of State. There is the potential to look at the regulations in this area. I do not think it is about exploitation; it is about providing reasonable opportunities that young people desire. I promise that I will go away and look at this issue, and write to the hon. Lady with further information.
Jobs and opportunities for young people have dried up over the last two years because the Government have made it more expensive to employ them. On the Isle of Wight, this has compounded our pre-existing structural problems. Will the Government now do the right thing and halve national insurance contributions for employing under-25s, to help grow more opportunities and jobs for young people?
No one in this Government is complacent about the challenges of youth unemployment, but there has been no spike in the figures since 2024. The rise has been consistent since 2022, in an entirely linear fashion. The hon. Gentleman will know that employers do not pay national insurance for under-21s, or for apprentices under the age of 25—it is important to be clear about how the system works. On the challenges in his constituency, there is a further agenda coming in this area through the Milburn review. It has an exciting set of proposals that I believe employers in the hon. Gentleman’s area will get behind, if we make them a substantial offer.
Amanda Hack (North West Leicestershire) (Lab)Labour
It was my pleasure to host the British Retail Consortium in Parliament for its announcement of Opening Shift, a partnership between Government and 40 retailers, providing over 11,000 work placements to help support young people who are not in education, training or employment into work. Could the Secretary of State update me on what progress has been made on getting other retailers involved, but also on how we could extend Opening Shift to ensure that semi-rural constituencies like mine can benefit?
I commend my hon. Friend for the work she is doing. One of my first jobs as a young person was in Foster Menswear in Sunderland city centre—my performance was mixed, to be honest, but it was an important set of skills to learn. The retail sector is known for the opportunities it provides for young people. My hon. Friend will know that there is already a set of proposals from the Government on not just national insurance, but incentives to take young people into employment if they have been out of work for a period of time, or into apprenticeships if they are in that age cohort. There is more we can do in this area, but there is an offer there and she is doing the right thing by highlighting that to businesses in her constituency.
Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)Labour
Syngenta in Grangemouth recently announced 377 redundancies. Along with the recent closures of Versalis, Fujifilm and, of course, the Grangemouth oil refinery, this means a real reduction in positive destinations for local young people. What can the UK Government do to accelerate the readiness of sites in Grangemouth in order to unlock the £200 million from the National Wealth Fund, so that we can build Grangemouth and Scotland’s industrial future?
Obviously, the immediate activity is supporting the affected employees throughout the consultation period. My hon. Friend will know that the use of the powers of Government—the powers of the state —to make sites available quickly for inward investment to the UK has always been a priority of mine. He is right to say that the National Wealth Fund has already made a nominal allocation to Grangemouth. Other programmes in the industrial strategy, such as the strategic sites accelerator, are all about trying to improve the pace at which we can take advantage of the investment opportunities the UK is presented with. I promise him that I will remain in close consultation with him, and of course with the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)Conservative
I call the acting shadow Secretary of State.
Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)Conservative
It is British Beauty Week—I can see you have been celebrating, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I am sure the Secretary of State has been, too—but it is tough out there for our salons. The industry lost one in five employees last year, which is the largest loss of any job type in the UK. Many will have been young people starting their careers in the industry, and few salons can afford to employ and train them because they are getting hammered by the jobs tax, soaring business rates and higher utility bills. What hope is the Prime Minister offering them?
I notice the hon. Lady did not go first on British Beauty Week to me, but to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and that is fair. British Beauty Week is an important moment, not least to celebrate the contribution of the sector and the, I believe, over 5,000 new apprentices starting in the sector in every corner of the UK this year. The hon. Lady in effect asks what the big economic story in the UK is, and I would say that the hope comes from the fact that, despite the challenges that exist in the global economy around the world, the economy under this Government is clearly performing more strongly than it did for 14 years under the Tories. My proof points for that are that wages are rising faster than prices and, crucially, that GDP is rising not just overall, but per head, as opposed to the modest increases under the Conservatives, which were really from population increases and large-scale immigration. An economy performing more strongly is in the interests of every business. On the opportunities for young people, there are the tax and fiscal incentives I have mentioned, with the further agenda coming through the Milburn review.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Youth unemployment stands at 15%, and in London that figure is 25%, while 700,000 graduates are out of work. Retail and hospitality are cornerstones of the everyday economy, providing vital employment, driving local growth and creating thriving town centres. However, average employment costs have increased by 11% since Labour took office, which disproportionately affects sectors that traditionally offer entry level jobs. Policy decisions taken by this Government are making it impossibly hard for businesses to provide young people with their first foot on the career ladder. Will the Secretary of State acknowledge the damage being done to young people, and will Ministers ensure that, as they implement secondary legislation under the Employment Rights Act 2025, they balance the rights of employees fairly with the needs of businesses to provide jobs for young people?
The Lib Dem spokesperson raises a few issues, but I would say first that doing a job like this, or any job in government, means acknowledging the trade-offs. The simple truth is that the things we will be talking about during this session and that everyone in the House wants to see funded were not funded in the plans that we inherited. Yes, it is always difficult to raise the tax burden on anyone in the UK, but priorities promised to the British people—for this successor Department, the money for the Port Talbot steelworks transformation and the compensation for the post office sub-postmasters—were not funded, so the Chancellor at the time did have to raise or find the money to fulfil the existing pledges that had been made. However, I promise the hon. Member that the aggregate impact or the balance for business—whether it is on employment rights or on taxation—is something this Department always fights very hard for in Government, because we are aware that the only way to fulfil the true ambitions of the British people is with an economy that is performing strongly, employing more people, and giving them hope and opportunity for the future. I do believe that this new Department, with the extra things that have come into it, has a genuinely exciting opportunity to bring a more coherent story to these interventions from Government, and that is the best way to a stronger economy.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5417800.