Youth Unemployment

Lord Laming Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My advice would be that the defence industry is an enormously important part of this country’s engineering base. It is one of the eight areas identified in this Government’s industrial strategy and our young people should be encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities that there are in that industry.

[Lord Laming (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister will agree that this transition from school to employment is a critical stage in the life of every young person. Could she assure the House that all steps have been taken to ensure that the link between services for children and adult services is reinforced so that children do not find themselves fallen off a cliff at the end of school?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes an enormously important point. It is sometimes at the point that young people finish school that they are lost to education or employment. That is why we will also put greater responsibilities on to schools to ensure the destinations of their pupils. We will deliver an automatic guarantee and automatic enrolment for young people into a college, and we will improve the risk of NEET indicators to identify earlier those young people who might end up not earning or learning.