Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kanishka Narayan]

I thank the hon. Member for raising the advances of Culham in particular. I visited the site; I take great pride in it, as a national asset when it comes to nuclear fusion and the combination of AI and energy innovation. On his point about the G20, I am proud that the Prime Minister has set out that AI will be top of the agenda. We will look to play a leadership role in ensuring that we arrive at a global code and principles for safe AI.

[Sir Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to support businesses in the hospitality sector.

[The Minister for the Future of Work (Kate Dearden)]

Hospitality businesses are at the heart of our high streets, communities and local economies, supporting jobs and growth across the UK, and we recognise the pressures that many continue to face. That is why we are providing targeted support for pubs, clubs and live music venues, including 15% business rates relief in 2026-27, and an additional 20% discount from April next year, while reviewing pub and hotel valuations to help ensure a fairer and more predictable business rates system. We are also investing £10 million through a new hospitality grant scheme to support growth, create jobs and strengthen local economies.

[Sir Julian Smith]

As the Minister knows, in areas like mine, the hospitality sector provides the bulk of employment for young people. Can I urge her to look at the Opposition Front Benchers’ proposals, and proposals from UKHospitality, for a lower NICs rate to be provided at the upcoming Budget, to allow those businesses to employ more young people?

[Kate Dearden]

I thank the right hon. Member for raising this. Hospitality, as he mentioned, is an absolute key employer of young people in the economy, providing rewarding routes into work. It is a critical sector to help us resolve the NEETs—not in education, employment or training—crisis. That is a key priority for this Government, and we want to work closely with the sector on providing those solutions. I am sure that he will welcome the announcement today of our significant intervention and partnership with the hospitality sector; we are working closely with UKHospitality. We are working on providing job opportunities and new work experience programmes to turn this around, and hospitality is key to that.