Speeches by Western.

“I am due to meet the new employment spokesperson for the Welsh Government as the devolution lead for the Department, and I will be very interested to hear their ideas. This needs to be a partnership moving forward, and if sensible and credible solutions come forward from that Administration, I will look to work with th…”

“I hope that Alan Milburn will propose a range of interventions that look not only at how we help people now, but at how we fix this problem for the long term. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: short-term fixes will not work. We have a structural problem that requires a structural solution.”

“My hon. Friend raises an important point, which has not been made so far today, about young people who slip through the net because they are perhaps living with their parents or not claiming—as he described, they are “hidden” NEETs. We are looking across the piece, and particularly talking with the Department for Educa…”

“It sounds like I will be having a day out in Scotland, so yes, I will take that in at the same.”

“I agree, but my hon. Friend will appreciate that the Department for Education lead on family hubs.”

“I absolutely agree. That is significant Government investment that presents a significant opportunity to do just as my hon. Friend suggests.”

“Youth hubs are an incredible way for specialists to reach out and work with young people through a range of different interventions. They provide a single space from which we can drill down and target the needs of individual young people, in individual communities, such as those in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I know…”

“As I said in response to an earlier question about conversations with the Welsh Government, I am due to meet my Scottish counterpart next week. Such conversations take place regularly and routinely, and we will ensure that there is a joined-up approach so that everybody across these isles can benefit from the changes.”

“I join my hon. Friend in his praise for local jobcentre staff. He knows that I would never refuse him, and I look forward to that visit.”

“I agree with my hon. Friend: sometimes this can feel like a vicious circle for young people with disabilities, and we must ensure that we get this right.”

“We are still waiting for the recommendations, but I will feed in my hon. Friend’s suggestion because I think it is a good one.”

“I will raise that with the Department of Health and Social Care and come back to my hon. Friend.”

“I am reluctant to respond in the strongest terms possible because it is the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) who has made the point, and I hold him in the highest regard. The Milburn review says loud and clear that this is not about a fecklessness in young people, and neither are they proud of not being in educ…”

“I can assure my hon. Friend that we are absolutely committed to delivering that holistic intervention and ensuring that all areas of the country see progress in this space. As colleagues would expect, we will particularly target those areas where this issue is the greatest problem, and if that includes her constituency…”

“I hope the hon. Gentleman appreciates that Milburn reported on Thursday, and recommendations from that report will not come for several months, but this is an important point and we will need a structure in place. I am committed to ensuring that this is a whole-of-Government intervention, but for the moment it is impor…”

“That is one of a range of potential solutions, and I agree that it is an important one.”

“I agree with the hon. Gentleman and that is what we are seeking to do, not least with the youth guarantee.”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. He is correct to say that we must make it easier for people to unlock technical as well as other forms of education, in support of the Prime Minister’s target of getting two thirds of young people into either an apprenticeship or higher education.”

“As I have said many times, we are introducing a new financial incentive to support SMEs to hire young people under the age of 25 as apprentices, providing that the earnings are below £50,000.”

“As I said in response to an earlier question, we have the Mayfield review, we have a former chief executive of Marks & Spencer as a lead non-executive director at the Department, and we are talking to business all the time. That is how we have developed some of our initial thinking in this space, it is why we have …”