Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to tackle youth unemployment in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Gateshead and (d) the north east.

The number of young unemployed claimants is continuing to fall. The proportion of young people (aged 16-24) who are unemployed and not in full time education is at a new record low of 4.8% and the youth claimant count has fallen by around 57% in Jarrow, 53% in South Tyneside and 49% in Gateshead since 2010.

As planned, we have also introduced the Youth Obligation to provide intensive support for 18-21 year olds making a new claim to Universal Credit full service from April 2017. We are rolling out the Youth Obligation in line with the roll-out schedule for Universal Credit full service across the north-east. As such, a number of sites in the north-east are already able to provide claimants with more intensive support through the Youth Obligation, Gateshead included. Remaining sites in the north-east will continue to be rolled-on to the Youth Obligation aligned with the schedule of Universal Credit full service, including Jarrow, which is expected to deliver the Youth Obligation from February 2018.