Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Sarah Champion Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

In the lead-up to the Budget, I argued that the Chancellor should use this opportunity to demonstrate a clear Government strategy to support young people and, in particular, I hoped to see him signal a strong commitment to apprenticeships. I therefore welcome the Chancellor saying that he will double the number of apprenticeships, but unfortunately that is not enough to bridge the skills gap.

The fact that youth unemployment remains so high is of concern to us all, and I was heartened to hear hon. Members speaking about schemes in their areas and saying that unemployment is going down. Unfortunately, however, in Rotherham and many other constituencies that is not the case. The current figures paint a grim picture: almost 1 million young people are still not in education, employment or training, and today more than 730,000 more young people are out of work or underemployed than in 2005. We are seeing the beginnings of a generational crisis that will not only cause problems for young people today, but create a skills gap that will follow them into the future. If we do not give our young people the training they need to work now, the future of our long-term economy will be at stake.

The impact of the Government’s choices does not end with the economy, because the quality of life enjoyed by our children, and our children’s children, will also be affected. I do not want future generations to worry about where their next meal is coming from, or whether they can afford to heat their house, because they were not given the chance to develop vital career skills when they were young. That is why I felt it so important for the Chancellor to use this Budget to invest more in young people’s skills and training.

Young people want to work. We know that, but there is still a lot more we can do to invest in their future. Regardless of the Chancellor saying today that he will add 100,000 apprenticeships, the number of new apprentices fell by more than 25,000 in the past year. In addition, there are now more than 5,000 fewer under-19s starting apprenticeships than there were in 2009. Supply of apprenticeship opportunities is simply not keeping up with rising demand, with many young people missing out as a result. Added to that are concerns that many apprentices are not receiving the legal minimum wage, and a recent survey showed that 29% of apprentices are not being paid enough. What does the Budget do for apprentices who are not getting the minimum wage? What does it do for young people who want a job but cannot find one?

I still believe that apprenticeships are not being taken seriously enough by this Government as a credible alternative for our young people. The level of apprenticeship applications outstrips the number of available places by 12:1, and the Chancellor’s announcements today will do little to address that. Nationally, think-tanks have reported that England currently has only 11 apprentices in place for every 1,000 jobs. Now is the time for us to turn the tables and invest in young people by creating more apprenticeships of greater quality. The Chancellor says that his plan is working, but if he really had a convincing plan, he would have built into the Budget serious and credible measures to support young people, safeguarding the economy for the future.

Allow me to paint a picture of the crisis in my constituency. The census showed that more than 50% of young people in Rotherham are either unemployed or economically inactive. Let me say that again: more than half of Rotherham’s young people are without a job. They want to work but they have nowhere to turn. Scandalously, that is not even the worst of it. If we compare the number of young people in my constituency who have claimed jobseeker’s allowance for a year under this Government with the equivalent in the last four years of the Labour Government, we see that the figure has increased dramatically. Indeed, I was flabbergasted to find out that that figure had increased not by 20% or even 50%, but by an incredible 760%. That is a 760% increase in young people in Rotherham claiming jobseeker’s allowance for a year under this Government—you couldn’t make it up! That figure alone is enough to make me ask what the Chancellor has been doing to support unemployed young people in Rotherham in the past four years. What hope has he offered them in this Budget? The answer is clear: he has done very little indeed, and he is offering them very little hope.

I wish to make a plea to the Chancellor: it is time to start taking the youth unemployment crisis seriously, and it is time to invest the Government’s Budget in young people because they are our future business leaders, construction workers, engineers, and scientists. If we do not act today, we risk creating a generational skills gap. Our society needs a strong, motivated and skilled young work force who will serve Britain not just now, but for long into the future. Young people need serious Budget commitments to support them, not the Budget we were given today that clearly supports the richest few at the expense of all others.