Care Leavers

Debate between Adam Jogee and Sally Jameson

Monday 3rd November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sally Jameson]

I agree completely.

The young person that I was speaking about just before my hon. Friend’s intervention said that they were not ready for their own place but that the supported lodgings made them feel less stressed so that they could relax and get on with what they needed to do. It is quite hard for people who have not been in that situation to imagine what it must be like to be on their own with no support network, no family and often no friends in an area where they did not grow up. When they are out there on their own, those supported lodgings are a lifeline for a lot of young people. I am sure that, when the Minister replies, he will discuss whether we can spread that provision more widely.

Other care leavers have shared how Doncaster Housing for Young People has helped them through linking them up with other agencies, and has offered support and help managing debts and finances. It is that holistic support that is so important to help young people leaving care maintain their confidence and transition into adult life. Doncaster Housing for Young People is one of many charities across the country that offer that tailored support; I thank them all for the work they do for young people. I of course invite the Minister to come to Doncaster to learn from Doncaster Housing for Young People, and to see for himself its incredible work.

Before I finish, I would like to reflect again on this year’s theme for National Care Leavers Month: “Rising as Me: Overcoming challenges, transforming, and finding your identity”. We should all remember that, at the heart of this month, there is a group of young people who innately have the same hopes, aspirations and potential as any of their non-care-experienced peers. They deserve to be ambitious about their future, to realise their potential and to become the adults they want to be.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I join my hon. Friend in welcoming the Minister to his place. Just this morning on my way down here, I visited the Newcastle-under-Lyme jobcentre, where I met the brilliant staff who are supporting care leavers to find fulfilling work and the dignity that comes with it. Will my hon. Friend add to her list of asks for the Minister the request that we do more not just through financial support but through directing care leavers towards work that suits their needs and their skillsets, because that is important to give them the dignity to which she has referred?

[Sally Jameson]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. I have not touched on this in my speech, but the number of people not in education, employment or training in the care leaver population is higher than the average. That is a fact that we need to take incredibly seriously, because those people deserve to have the same ambitions for their future as everyone else and to be able to realise their full potential. I am sorry to say that just is not happening at the minute, and it is the job of the Government to make sure it does.

Coalfields Regeneration Trust

Debate between Adam Jogee and Sally Jameson

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend and neighbour makes the important point that this is about pride, power and people. The sooner we see the Government respond positively to his calls and to the calls of many on the Labour Benches, the better.

Wages in the former coalfield communities are 6% to 7% lower than the national average. There is a shortage of quality jobs, as we have heard, leading to a brain drain, as working-age residents with degree-level qualifications leave to find jobs elsewhere. This is a dangerous cycle; our young people are forced to leave their communities to find the best jobs. It leaves communities like mine losing out not just on economic growth, but on the energy and dynamism that young people bring to the job market.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. Does he agree that it is imperative that the Government stand firm on their agenda to invest in green industries? Members on the Opposition Benches, who I notice are not in their places tonight, want to cancel that green agenda, which will not just cancel opportunities for coalfields like ours to re-industrialise and provide those high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, but jeopardise the opportunity for this country as a whole to have cheaper and more secure energy.

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point and I agree with her wholeheartedly. It says a lot that people who have been mouthing off in recent weeks and months are missing in action this evening.

The 2024 “State of the Coalfields” report found that,

“if the coalfields had been a region in their own right, all clustered together in one corner of the country, the statistics would probably show them to be the most deprived region in the United Kingdom.”

That is unacceptable and it says a lot. It would be the responsibility of any Government of this country to address this disparity, but for a Labour Government, it must be our duty to do so. Our movement was born in the coalfields, ensuring that communities like mine in Newcastle-under-Lyme could prosper and thrive, while making sure that local people had a fair go, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) alluded to. That is why, in 1999, the last Labour Government set up the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. It was created to support the regeneration of coalfield communities, and it did just that. Since 1999, the CRT has helped 26,332 people into work, created and safeguarded 5,174 jobs, and helped 341,871 people to improve their health and wellbeing.