International Update
I am happy to look at what the hon. Gentleman is saying if he writes to me in detail on that very matter.
12,832 spoken contributions under 12 words (interjections such as “Will the hon. Member give way?”) are hidden. Show them
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International Update
Obviously, we are looking at the decisions that have been reached in relation to that very issue, and we will of course defend any British citizens who have been unfairly treated.
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International Update
Indeed. I am a very big supporter of the World Service, and indeed of the BBC as a whole.
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International Update
I understand the point the hon. Gentleman is making. Obviously, different parts of the UK are more dependent on heating oil and that issue has really come to the fore throughout the course of this year, so I will consider what he has to say. Just to clarify in relation to the previous question: yes, in no way am I considering a May 2027 general election.
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International Update
We will certainly uphold our obligations in respect of the Falklands Islands. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the issues related to the Chagos islands are different—they are not strictly comparable—but we will always take the right and fair approach.
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International Update
The clear measurable benefits are containers and lorries full of fresh produce not sitting at ports and going off. That is a clear and measurable benefit to a business, as is extra several billion pound-sized growth in the UK economy. I would not be pursuing this were there not tangible differences for British business at the end of it. The figures are from the Treasury. They quantify an increase of at least 0.2% in UK GDP if we get the right deal, possibly more, and that is worth pursuing at this moment in time.
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International Update
I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but I did not negotiate the arrangement that is currently in place. What I am trying to do is make things better for the people of Northern Ireland. I am confident in saying to him that if we get the right deal on energy connection, that could make an appreciable difference for his constituents, as could the paperwork on Irish sea crossings as well. There are real benefits that I can achieve here that will improve things for Northern Ireland—possibly not to his complete satisfaction, but they are steps forward.
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Employment: Rural Areas
The Government are supporting employment in rural areas through local Get Britain Working plans, a reformed jobs and careers service with expanded digital, phone and in-person support, and increased outreach through the flexible delivery network.
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Employment: Rural Areas
I hope that I can give my hon. Friend some welcome news. The DWP does have several different ways to carry out identity verification for customers accessing our services in rural locations, including customers who are unable to access a jobcentre. It offers verification through our digital service, over the telephone or by postal delivery. If, as my hon. Friend says, that is not happening in his locality, I can tell him that there is an excellent team working out of the jobcentre in Stornoway, whom I have met. If they, or he, will let me know what is happening, I shall be happy to look into it for him.
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Employment: Rural Areas
The right hon. Lady will be aware that this Government are delivering an additional £120 billion of public spending to support improved infrastructure across the country. On her question about jobs in rural locations, this Government are taking the steps needed to support people into work—take the example of the agricultural sector, where there are over 22,000 more jobs than there were when her party left office.
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Employment: Rural Areas
My hon. Friend raises a very important issue, which affects not just his constituency but the entire country. I recognise the specific concerns that he has about his locality, but also that these challenges are faced more broadly. I am delighted that the Government have brought forward the youth jobs grant, introduced the new £2,000 incentive for small and medium-sized enterprises that hire apprentices under the age of 25, and rolled out youth hubs across our country, but if there is more that he feels we could be doing in his area, I would be very happy to discuss that with him.
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Employment: Rural Areas
May I, too, welcome the hon. Gentleman back to his place? I would be very happy to ask colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to share any best practice with their Scottish counterparts. This Government are investing £39 billion in the delivery of social and affordable homes because we recognise the issues that the hon. Gentleman sets out. The fundamental starting point for any good life is access to a good-quality, safe and secure home, and that is something we are committed to delivering.
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Beauty Industry Employment and Training: Young People
The Government are determined to help more young people to build careers in sectors such as hair and beauty by investing an additional £2.5 billion through the youth guarantee and the growth and skills levy. Whether a young person chooses hair and beauty or another sector, we want them to have the skills, training and support they need to succeed, including through the funding of apprenticeship training costs for eligible under-25s who have started their apprenticeships since August this year.
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Beauty Industry Employment and Training: Young People
I welcome my hon. Friend’s support for British Beauty Week and join him in celebrating the local beauty and wellness businesses that are helping to drive growth and create opportunities for young people, particularly the two he has highlighted in his constituency. I encourage his local businesses to look at the incentives offered by not just the jobs component of the youth guarantee, but the youth jobs grant and the £2,000 payment to small and medium-sized enterprises that hire a young apprentice, all of which can support them in giving opportunities to young people in Weston-super-Mare and beyond.
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Beauty Industry Employment and Training: Young People
Clearly, I would be very happy to meet the hon. Lady. That sort of distance is unfortunate, and I am sorry if that is the experience of her constituent or, indeed, their apprentice. As I say, I am very happy to meet her to discuss it further.
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Youth Hubs
We are making strong progress expanding youth hubs across Great Britain, with delivery ahead of schedule, bringing the total number of youth hubs to 160. These hubs provide a single, community-based front door to joined-up employment, skills and wider support for young people. We continue to work closely with local authorities and partners to maintain momentum and support further expansion.
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Youth Hubs
I thank my hon. Friend for his invitation and for highlighting the work of the Falkirk youth hub and its partners. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met with Powering Futures and is aware of the issues that he raises. My hon. Friend has been relentless in seeking support for this organisation, and I hope that the Scottish Government will think again and consider supporting the good work of Powering Futures with funding.
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Youth Hubs
My hon. Friend is right. The whole purpose of youth hubs is to take support out of traditional settings and into communities, meeting young people where they are rather than expecting them to come to us. Through partnerships with local authorities, charities, colleges and other organisations, youth hubs such as the upcoming Wrexham youth hub will help us reach young people in their local communities who might otherwise miss out on support. We will continue to encourage all youth hubs to undertake proactive outreach and work with local partners to reach young people. I have seen excellent examples of that in the hubs I have visited thus far.
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Youth Hubs
I would agree with the hon. Gentleman, but then we would both be wrong. I attended a recent parliamentary event hosted by the Resolution Foundation, chaired by the former Tory Minister Lord Willetts, and the research it had undertaken was clear that cutting taxes was not as effective in delivering opportunities to get young people into work—[Interruption.] It was very clear that the targeting of employment support was much more effective than the approach the hon. Gentleman is suggesting. The shadow Secretary of State was there; she saw that. She may not have agreed with it—maybe that was because she did not stay until the end of the event—but none the less it was very clear that the best way to support young people into work is through employment support schemes, youth hubs and the routes that we are taking.
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Youth Hubs
I would be happy to write to the hon. Lady to confirm specific timings in individual localities. We are ahead of projected delivery at the moment, having already hit more than 160 youth hubs, but we have a target of reaching more than 300 in the coming months and years. I will set out to her in writing plans for the youth hub that will serve her local area.
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Topical Questions
I welcome the plans for a youth hub in my hon. Friend’s constituency and thank her for the work she has done on campaigning for it. The core blueprint for youth hubs ensures that every hub provides access to employment support alongside mental health, housing skills and employer engagement, and aims to support all young people in a locality to address their barriers to work on an individual basis, including those with neurodivergent conditions.
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Topical Questions
We recognise the significant impact that menopause symptoms can have on retaining women in the workforce. That is why we launched evidence-informed action plans to help employers provide effective menopause support. We have published guidance to help employers monitor their progress, and we are committed to evaluating the impact of action plans, including through a post-implementation review.
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Topical Questions
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the challenge of hidden NEETs. Youth hubs are open to all young people aged 16 to 24, regardless of benefit status, and we expect them to work closely with local authorities, schools, colleges and community organisations to identify and engage young people who may be missing out on support. There is a particular challenge with hidden NEETs, and I expect that we will be able to bear down on that problem through such place-based intelligence sharing.
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Topical Questions
I can give my hon. Friend that reassurance. The Government are investing an additional £2.5 billion in the youth guarantee, which includes funding for youth hubs and the growth and skills levy by 2029, supporting almost 1 million young people and creating up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn. Connect to Work, which will support around 300,000 people, is intended to run until March 2030, with multi-year grant agreements to support long-term local planning and delivery.
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Youth Hubs
19. What steps he is taking to help support the establishment of youth hubs.
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Youth Hubs
For many of our young people, the hardest step towards obtaining work is the first one: walking into a jobcentre or youth hub and asking for support. Does the Minister agree that part of the approach of youth hubs, including the new hub in Wrexham, must be to reach those young people where they are, rather than waiting for them to come through the door?
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Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Areas
1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the youth guarantee trailblazer areas on young people’s life prospects.
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Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Areas
Too many young people in Peterborough are starting adult life without the skills, support or training they need to get on, so I am incredibly proud that Peterborough was chosen as one of the first pilots for the youth guarantee trailblazer. However, we do not just have high levels of people not in education, employment or training; according to our chambers of commerce, we have high levels of businesses unable to recruit the staff they need because of skills shortages. This highlights one of the big mismatches—that between young people who do not have the skills, and employers who cannot find people to train and support in developing those skills. What more can my right hon. Friend’s Department do to ensure that young people and businesses can find each other as we invest in apprenticeships?
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National Security
Faith matters in this country, and nothing strikes our shared British values more than attacks on places of worship. It is absolutely right that this Government call out the attacks on synagogues and other Jewish communal organisations, and it is right that Members of this House push the Government to do more to tackle antisemitism and make the resources available. There is also a wider hatred against other faiths in this country, and I am aware that in my gurdwaras, mosques and places of other religious faiths, people are worried about attacks on their communal spaces and their sacred ability to worship freely as part of modern Britain. What more can my right hon. Friend do to focus not just on antisemitism, which it is right to do, but on what support and funding are available to other places of worship, to ensure that modern Britain is a place where all our faiths have a place and are represented and protected?
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International Update
First, I thank my right hon. Friend for his speech at UNGA, in which he committed, or recommitted, the United Kingdom to be a consistent and stable partner in upholding the shared values of the UN charter. That will be increasingly important as we enter the G20 presidency. I spent last week with the chairs of the Ukrainian Parliament’s British friendship group, Deputy Speaker Korniyenko and Lesia Vasylenko, and they talked to me about how this El Niño winter is going to be the hardest ever winter in Ukraine. Just this week, Kyiv’s sewerage system broke due to electricity outages because of Russian attacks. What additional support can we give, particularly to Kyiv, in terms of generators, solar panels, thermal batteries and other humanitarian support to ensure that they can get through the exceedingly hard and difficult winter that is coming to Ukraine?
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Milburn Report
7. What recent progress Alan Milburn has made on producing the final “Young People and Work” report.
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Milburn Report
Ahead of Alan Milburn’s report, in Gloucester there are over 2,500 young people not in employment, education or training. I have spoken with many of them across the last two years who want an opportunity but have been let down by the system. Something needs to change. At the end of November, I am hosting the Gloucestershire Futures summit with Gloucestershire county council. We have invited schools and colleges, local employers, healthcare providers, local government and the third sector in an effort to get everyone in the room to discuss how we can solve the problem together. I know the Secretary of State has a long list of constituencies to visit after today’s questions, but he also shares my determination to give every young person the opportunity to fulfil their potential, so will he or one of his team join us for the summit at the end of November?
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Topical Questions
T2. Parents of neurodivergent young people in my community readily tell me about the barriers their children face in accessing work opportunities. I am delighted that a youth hub is opening in Aldershot and Farnborough this year, but how will the Government ensure that every young person in my community receives all the support they need as that hub opens?
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International Update
I welcome the Prime Minister’s statement. To deter our adversaries, we are not only going to have to increase defence spending; we are also going to have to mobilise our financial markets. I welcome the many good conversations between the UK and Canada, but the founding of the defence, security and resilience bank will take political leadership. Will the Prime Minister take that step, stand with Prime Minister Carney, and ensure that Britain is at the forefront of building the financial power needed to deter our adversaries?
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Topical Questions
Birmingham has been piloting a jobs guarantee scheme since April. An employment roundtable that I ran in Selly Oak saw lots of young people who lack confidence in their communication skills to enable them get back into work after being on universal credit for 18 months. Will the Secretary of State commit to publishing how many pilot participants are still in work once the six months is over?
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Rejoining the EU
As a former MEP and as MP for one of the youngest constituencies in the country, it is important for me to say on the record that Brexit has been a disaster for young people. Opportunities that the EU offered, such as the ability to live, work and learn alongside our friends in Europe, are now gone, and Brexit’s devastating economic impact has been felt mostly by young people. Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that a closer relationship with the EU would positively impact our young people, including those in Manchester Rusholme?
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Rejoining the EU
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Sir Edward. I congratulate all the petitioners on the efforts they have made to secure such a number of signatures for this petition. After 10 years, I thought that maybe, just maybe, we might be getting somewhere. The Government are starting to talk positively about the EU, and they correctly describe the carnage, chaos and disaster that was the Brexit deal, and even at his conference speech, I thought I heard the Prime Minister talking positively about actually rejoining the EU. However, as with everything from this Government, we need to be cautious. From that heady talk about rejoining only a couple of weeks ago, we are now back to the familiar territory of a deal and an arrangement with the EU. I have just come from the Chamber, as many hon. Members have, and I listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister had to say about the EU. He described a perfectly reasonable deal. I quite liked what I heard from him on that—he is going to try to ensure a number of positive developments for the UK—but what he did not talk about was rejoining the EU. If I am not mistaken, that is what the petition asks for: it asks for the UK to renegotiate its terms and rejoin the EU. I am okay with what the Prime Minister is going to do on work experience, immigration and all the other things, but what we need after the disaster of the last 10 years is to get back to the territory of rejoining the European Union.
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Rejoining the EU
Sorry, I cannot give way. Labour have not so much opened the door on ending the chaos and disaster of Brexit; it is more like they have one tentative hand on the handle, unsure whether to wander through, and they are a little bit terrified of what they might find on the other side. We know that Brexit has been a disaster. The Prime Minister does not have to tell us that or explain it in detail; all of us have been seeing it for the last eight years. We are just grateful that this Labour party and Government are now listening. I secured a debate a few weeks ago to “celebrate” the referendum on the EU. The House of Commons Library briefing for this debate is roughly the same as the one for my debate. The overwhelming economic evidence, the consensus, about what has happened since Brexit could not be clearer—I say to my friends on the right wing of the Conservative party. It is absolutely clear that we have lost opportunity, diminished growth, and limited opportunities and relationships for our young people, and that will continue to happen with this Brexit. Where does the frenetic talk of the past few weeks leave us? What should we look at from now? The Government’s response to this petition—I am sorry to once again disappoint the petitioners—was to simply restate the failed Keir Starmer lines that they “will not be rejoining the EU”. They went on to restate that nothing will be done about the Government’s red lines: no freedom of movement and no rejoining of the single market. That position seems to be totally at odds with what we heard at the Labour party conference. I wish that they would revisit what was said there and give us all hope that we will somehow get back. If they start to get some ambition and aspiration and make that a real strategy, I will be right behind them. I will cheer them to the rafters: “Get us back into the European Union and you will be heroes—not just in your party or your constituencies, but across the United Kingdom.” However, from what I have heard today and been looking at, I am not seeing that commitment. I have to say that I am very disappointed. I know that Labour Members are all encouraged and excited by what they have heard, but I did not hear anything about rejoining the EU, which is what we and the petitioners want to hear.
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Rejoining the EU
This debate is about applying to rejoin the European Union. There was nothing about that in the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon. I am confused about the Government’s position. Is it an ambition and an aspiration? Is it an option to rejoin the European Union? If it is an option, how will it be considered? And if it is considered positively, how do we rejoin?
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Rejoining the EU
We cannot have this debate without making it explicitly clear that the situation in Scotland is different. Many Members have noted the disagreements in their constituencies, but England and Wales voted to leave while Scotland voted to remain by more than 60%. Given the consequences of what has happened since, that fact cannot be overstated. The context for people in Scotland was that two years earlier we were told by Westminster that, by choosing to remain within the Union, our future within Europe was secure and could be guaranteed. That turned out very much not to be the case. The fundamental promise for Scotland of remaining in the Union changed against our will, despite 60% of people in Scotland having voted to remain in the EU. It is no wonder that people in Scotland increasingly see their future not only within the EU but within the EU in an independent Scotland. As many have said today, what we have seen since 2016 because of Brexit is our economy suffering, our young people being limited, our agricultural businesses being strangled and our cost of living increasing year on year. That has been a clear consequence of a future that Scotland, unlike many Members’ constituencies, did not vote for. Scotland did not need to wait and see the consequences that we have discussed today; we knew that this would be a disaster.