Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to introduce an apprenticeship guarantee for 16-24 years old.

This Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training. Over the next three years, this investment will deliver up to 300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training, and unlock up to 200,000 jobs, including through the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and guaranteeing jobs for long-term unemployed young people on Universal Credit.

To support our ambition of 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, we have expanded foundation apprenticeships into hospitality and retail, will launch a new level 2 administrative assistant apprenticeship fromz August, and are introducing a new apprenticeship hiring payment of £2,000 for non-levy paying employers (typically SMEs) that take on 16-24 year old apprentices as new employees.

We will also fully fund non-levy paying employer apprenticeships for eligible 16–24-year-olds from August 2026 and launch a £140 million pilot, in conjunction with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to better connect young people to local apprenticeship opportunities.