Youth Unemployment

Baroness Smith of Llanfaes Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I have never regarded the noble Baroness as being harsh in the way she mentions. She has hit on the underlying question, which is a really important one. The question sometimes, when somebody encounters the state for the first time, is to look at what are the benefits to which they are entitled. That may be very important, but a much more important question is: what would it take to help change your life? What kind of support do you need to change your life? What that will be will depend on the young person’s circumstances. That is really hard, because it is a broader question, but it is a question we have to answer, and my department is on a journey towards looking at what it means to help young people. Of course, if they struggle, anyone who genuinely cannot work needs to get help. I am aware of the “sickfluencers”. This is not new; there have been different ways of doing this for some time. The department is very much focused on that and on making sure our assessment processes are robust.

We also need to get the incentives in the right place. This Government changed the incentives so that, in future, people coming on to the universal credit health journey will not get extra money for that, because we do not want to put people in a position where they have an incentive to persuade us that they can never work. It is why we are making sure that the Timms review looks carefully at PIP to see what has happened, because it has not really been reviewed since it was introduced. We have to get the incentives right and support people who need them, while also making sure that we give people a vision of what life could be in all its fullness.

[Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (PC)]

My Lords, the Minister referred to evidence that has been looked at to shape this new initiative. What evidence has been taken from the scheme that has existed in Wales for the last decade—the young person’s guarantee in Wales? What lessons have been learned about what did and did not work well with that? In the context of AI, what consideration have the Government given to how AI will or will not affect the graduate job market, particularly entry-level jobs in the services industry?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

They are all excellent questions. We have worked very closely with the Government in Wales to see what they have done—they did not need a youth guarantee because they already had one. We have looked at all the evidence, and we have worked very closely with the devolved Administrations and will carry on doing so. Most aspects of the programmes I have described are GB-wide because apprenticeships are devolved, and so we are working closely to create a localised offer. We are also working with mayoral authorities to make sure that, where appropriate, things are tailored to local areas and the local economy, because what works in Middlesbrough may not be the same as what works in Truro. We are trying to do that as well as working with devolved Administrations.

The noble Baroness asked a very important question about AI. It is already changing the world of work. To stay ahead of the changes, the Government have launched an AI and future of work unit, which is a cross-government function dedicated to ensuring that AI delivers positive outcomes for the economy, jobs and workers. It is designed to help prepare the UK for an AI-driven labour market by looking at what is driving it and what has happened to labour market practices. A key part of that involves recognising that there are lots of different kinds of AI, but, put simply, there is AI that is replacing jobs but, increasingly, there are also jobs that are working with AI. We therefore need to give young people the skills to enable them to go into jobs where they will be expected to use AI and to look at how AI enhances their job rather than simply supplanting it. That will apply to young people as a whole but also specifically to graduates. Graduates will come out with one set of skills, but graduates of the right age are in the same position as anyone else and we are really happy to help them too.