Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Young People: Employment, Education and Training

Monday 27 October 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Kirsteen Sullivan questioned the Scottish Government's use of its financial settlement to address youth unemployment.
  • Tim Farron highlighted the benefits of skills bootcamps in Cumbria, noting the cost of 2.7 million for the entire region.
  • Helen Whately expressed concern over rising unemployment and the number of young people not in education or employment.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kirsteen Sullivan Labour (Co-op) Bathgate and Linlithgow
Education Employment Scotland
Context

One in six young Scots are not in education, employment or training, including hundreds across the questioner's constituency.

Question

With one in six young Scots not in education, employment or training, including hundreds across my constituency, I welcome the Government’s youth guarantee to give young people the training or job support they need. However, with stubborn youth unemployment, the Scottish Government’s swingeing cuts to the college sector and employers warning that Scottish apprenticeships are less favourable than those in England, how will the Secretary of State work to ensure that young people across the UK can benefit from this Government’s ambition?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)

Not for the first time, we have to point out that the Scottish Government have benefited from the biggest financial settlement since the introduction of devolution. It should not be too much to expect that at least a proportion of that should be spent on expanding opportunity for young people in my hon. Friend’s constituency and throughout Scotland.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The response did not address how the government will work specifically with the Scottish Government or employers to ensure benefits reach young Scots despite challenges mentioned.

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Q2 Tim Farron Lib Dem Westmorland and Lonsdale
Education Employment
Context

Skills bootcamps in Cumbria have provided training opportunities for young people.

Question

Skills bootcamps in Cumbria have provided a great opportunity: 60 hours of training for young people in disciplines as varied as coding, scaffolding and project management. The cost to deliver those bootcamps across the whole of Cumbria is £2.7 million—chicken feed compared with the benefit that those young people and their future employers get out of them. What conversations has the Secretary of State had with his friends in the Treasury to ensure that that scheme is maintained and continued?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)

I am always having conversations with my friends in the Treasury. I agree with the hon. Member that flexibility and some short courses in the skills and training system are very important. Not everything has to be done according to the exact same formula and recipe, and shorter training courses have a big part to play.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The response did not provide specific details about conversations with Treasury or concrete steps for maintaining bootcamps.

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Q3 Helen Whately Con Faversham and Mid Kent
Employment Benefits & Welfare
Context

Unemployment has risen under the current government, with nearly 1 million young people not in education, employment or training.

Question

I welcome the Secretary of State to his new job and wish him luck in it—especially because, with every day that passes under this Government, we see fewer people enjoying the chance to start a new job. Unemployment has gone up month after month. Nearly 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training because of this Government’s policies, jobs tax and business red tape; even the Pensions Minister’s former think-tank agrees with me. People all around the country are out looking for work—young people who want to get on in life and all those trying to provide for their families—so can the Secretary of State tell us and them when he will get unemployment down?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden)

The hon. Lady has a short memory. The Government in which she served presided over the biggest slowdown in living standards in recent memory, and there are 358,000 more people in work now than there were at the start of the year. We will keep supporting young people into work and will change the system that we inherited, which had the wrong incentives and a lack of support.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The response did not provide a specific timeline or plan to reduce unemployment.

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