Youth Unemployment

Chris Webb Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

The rate of young people not in education, employment or training is, I believe, even higher in Scotland than it is in the UK as a whole. The hon. Member asks for more information on timescales. The hiring bonuses, for example, will be introduced from this summer, and the apprenticeship changes will be introduced from later this year.

[Chris Webb (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

I start by thanking my right hon. Friend for joining me at my jobs fair a few weeks ago, where more than 1,100 people secured work on the day. Some 900 are already in those jobs, working in our economy. That is Labour in action. I have spoken many times in this House about the need to support the hospitality and tourism industries, especially in coastal communities such as Blackpool, so that they can hire more young people and give them that opportunity. I got my first job at age 14, on Blackpool seafront. It was a great job that helped me get countless more jobs in hospitality. We need more young people to have access to those jobs. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me, Blackpool businesses and the Federation of Small Businesses that this plan is a game changer in tackling youth unemployment in Blackpool and other coastal communities across the country?

[Pat McFadden]

I thank my hon. Friend for the enormous amount of work that he put into organising the successful Blackpool jobs fair, which I attended a few weeks ago. He is right that the evidence from that jobs fair is that the vacancies are there, with more than 1,000 jobs allocated on the day of the jobs fair itself. Hospitality is a great entry route for young people. We have announced a foundation apprenticeship in hospitality as part of this process, and I hope that extends opportunity to other young people, similar to the opportunities that he had when he was a young man.