Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of care experienced young people securing employment in the hospitality sector following the cessation of local authority support.

The department is committed to ensuring that young people leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.

The department fully recognises the potential benefits that employment in the hospitality sector offers to care leavers. 27 of the 237 organisations offering employment opportunities under our Care Leaver Covenant are from the hospitality industry. This includes Accor Hotels, Aramark, Birmingham Airport, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, PGL, Marston’s Brewery and Pubs, and Merlin Entertainments.

Further, our Care Leaver Ministerial Board, co-chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister, has been established to secure cross-departmental action to improve the outcomes and experiences of care leavers, including in relation to their employment.