Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Yemm and Pat McFadden

Monday 27th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

The policies that I am advocating are creating opportunity for young people, through offering employers hiring incentives, through promoting youth apprenticeship starts and through the other initiatives that we have set out. We do this because we agree that work is the best answer for young people, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that they have the maximum chance to get work.

[Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)]

T5. In Mansfield, our youth hub is already bringing together Jobcentre Plus and local partners to support young people into employment. Can the Secretary of State set out how the Government are strengthening youth hubs around the country to ensure that every young person has access to high quality, personalised support?

[Pat McFadden]

Youth hubs are another part of the effort, and the advantage is that we can get the help that the jobcentre can give to where young people are in the community. This also means we can get help to people who are not necessarily signing on for benefits but who are looking for work, and it enables us to give a more flexible response across different services. We hope to expand these hubs to more than 360 locations, where they will be open to all 16 to 24-year-olds, whether or not they are on benefits.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Yemm and Pat McFadden

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend asks an excellent question. The fact that net migration is falling to lower levels than we have seen for some time gives added urgency to a question that has often been posed: why do we not do more to train our own workers? That is precisely why I am prioritising youth apprenticeship starts, which fell by 40% under the previous Government. We must arrest that decline and ensure that we respond to the new situation of falling levels of net migration by training more of our own young people.

[Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State outline what exactly the youth guarantee means for young people in my constituency of Mansfield?

[Pat McFadden]

What it will mean for young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and many others, is intensive work coach training, and the chance of training or work experience. If that does not get them into a job, ultimately it will mean a subsidised job, where they get six months of work experience, paid at the national minimum wage for 25 hours a week. The last thing we want is people leaving education and going on to a life on benefits.