There will be a Chamber debate on access to further education on Thursday 2 July 2026. This topic has been chosen by the Backbench business committee. This debate will be led by Sarah Pochin MP.

There will be a Chamber debate on access to further education on Thursday 2 July 2026. This topic has been chosen by the Backbench business committee. This debate will be led by Sarah Pochin MP.

This briefing explores what announcements the government could make in the King’s Speech on 13 May 2026 about welfare and pensions.

This briefing explores what announcements the government could make in the King’s Speech on 13 May 2026 about welfare and pensions.

The UK Government has introduced a bill to make 16 the voting age for all elections. This briefing details the voting age for UK elections and the debate about lowering the voting age.

The UK Government has introduced a bill to make 16 the voting age for all elections. This briefing details the voting age for UK elections and the debate about lowering the voting age.

My Lords, there is positive information in the labour market. The claimant count is falling—43,000 on the year—more than half a million people have moved into work over the past year, and real wages have risen more since July 2024 than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government. However, there is more to do, and we are delivering through our Get Britain Working plan, which includes creating a new jobs and careers service, tackling economic inactivity due to ill health and delivering our youth guarantee.

My Lords, there is positive information in the labour market. The claimant count is falling—43,000 on the year—more than half a million people have moved into work over the past year, and real wages have risen more since July 2024 than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government. However, there is more to do, and we are delivering through our Get Britain Working plan, which includes creating a new jobs and careers service, tackling economic inactivity due to ill health and delivering our youth guarantee.

I make no apology for holding the Government to account on the issue of employment. Having been brought up in Liverpool and been a Merseyside MP for 21 years, I have seen the damage that can be done by depriving people of the dignity of work. Now we have unemployment rising towards 2 million. In my 50 years in Parliament, every Labour Government have left office with unemployment higher than when they took office. When will this Government realise that you cannot tax and regulate businesses into growth?

I make no apology for holding the Government to account on the issue of employment. Having been brought up in Liverpool and been a Merseyside MP for 21 years, I have seen the damage that can be done by depriving people of the dignity of work. Now we have unemployment rising towards 2 million. In my 50 years in Parliament, every Labour Government have left office with unemployment higher than when they took office. When will this Government realise that you cannot tax and regulate businesses into growth?

My Lords, I share the noble Lord’s sentiment about the importance of the dignity of work, but unemployment is a long-term trend, both here and across the G7, and it has been rising since 2023. The good news is, however, that the number of people who are economically inactive has fallen by nearly half a million, because more people are actively looking for work. Indeed, last year, employment grew by more than half a million, which is nearly twice as much as the rise in unemployment. The noble Lord asked what we will do about it, and the answer is clear. The Government are taking action on young people who are neither earning nor learning, which the last

Government ignored. The Government are taking action on long-term sickness, which under the last Government reached a record high. The Government have seen pay rise more since they were elected than under the first 10 years of the previous Administration, helping to tackle the cost of living. We are going to solve the problems we inherited, and we are doing something about it.

My Lords, I share the noble Lord’s sentiment about the importance of the dignity of work, but unemployment is a long-term trend, both here and across the G7, and it has been rising since 2023. The good news is, however, that the number of people who are economically inactive has fallen by nearly half a million, because more people are actively looking for work. Indeed, last year, employment grew by more than half a million, which is nearly twice as much as the rise in unemployment. The noble Lord asked what we will do about it, and the answer is clear. The Government are taking action on young people who are neither earning nor learning, which the last

Government ignored. The Government are taking action on long-term sickness, which under the last Government reached a record high. The Government have seen pay rise more since they were elected than under the first 10 years of the previous Administration, helping to tackle the cost of living. We are going to solve the problems we inherited, and we are doing something about it.

Can the noble Lord elaborate on what assessment has been made of the number and the type of jobs most impacted by AI-driven automation?

Can the noble Lord elaborate on what assessment has been made of the number and the type of jobs most impacted by AI-driven automation?

We are working across government to monitor the impact of AI and support job creation, providing skills training for those facing disruption. Just last week, the Technology Secretary announced that every adult in the UK is eligible to take free courses to gain practical AI skills for work, with a target of upskilling about 10 million employees. AI will undoubtedly transform the world of work, but the Government are taking action by establishing the AI and the Future of Work Unit in DSIT to ensure that this transformation boosts productivity and opportunities rather than deepening inequality.

We are working across government to monitor the impact of AI and support job creation, providing skills training for those facing disruption. Just last week, the Technology Secretary announced that every adult in the UK is eligible to take free courses to gain practical AI skills for work, with a target of upskilling about 10 million employees. AI will undoubtedly transform the world of work, but the Government are taking action by establishing the AI and the Future of Work Unit in DSIT to ensure that this transformation boosts productivity and opportunities rather than deepening inequality.

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My Lords, I love the optimism from the Minister. Can he say what distortion there is on the employment figures from jobs which are not real jobs—zero-hour jobs—where people do not know whether they have a job tomorrow, next week or next month? There are so many people who now seem to be counted in the Minister’s assessment of jobs who are not fully employed. Do the Government have any actions planned to turn those negligible jobs into real jobs?

My Lords, I love the optimism from the Minister. Can he say what distortion there is on the employment figures from jobs which are not real jobs—zero-hour jobs—where people do not know whether they have a job tomorrow, next week or next month? There are so many people who now seem to be counted in the Minister’s assessment of jobs who are not fully employed. Do the Government have any actions planned to turn those negligible jobs into real jobs?

I am, of course, very much a glass-half-full type of person, but one of the core reforms that the Government put through in the Employment Rights Act was to ensure that zero-hours contracts do not drive standards to the bottom. We are about rewarding good employers and ensuring that they are not undercut by bad employers through mechanisms such as zero-hours contracts.

I am, of course, very much a glass-half-full type of person, but one of the core reforms that the Government put through in the Employment Rights Act was to ensure that zero-hours contracts do not drive standards to the bottom. We are about rewarding good employers and ensuring that they are not undercut by bad employers through mechanisms such as zero-hours contracts.

My Lords, the last Labour Government in which I was a Minister made huge strides in reducing long-term youth unemployment, but tragically we are in a situation now where we have a million young people not in education, training or work. If there is one thing a Labour Government should be about, it is opening up opportunities and providing jobs for young people. This should be the Government’s number one priority,

and they should be talking about it every single day of the week. Therefore, can the Minister update the House on what the Government are doing to massively expand the number of public sector apprenticeships, to set an example to employers in other sectors, and to ensure that companies and organisations which benefit from public sector procurement are massively increasing the number of apprenticeships they provide as well?

My Lords, the last Labour Government in which I was a Minister made huge strides in reducing long-term youth unemployment, but tragically we are in a situation now where we have a million young people not in education, training or work. If there is one thing a Labour Government should be about, it is opening up opportunities and providing jobs for young people. This should be the Government’s number one priority,

and they should be talking about it every single day of the week. Therefore, can the Minister update the House on what the Government are doing to massively expand the number of public sector apprenticeships, to set an example to employers in other sectors, and to ensure that companies and organisations which benefit from public sector procurement are massively increasing the number of apprenticeships they provide as well?

I completely agree with the noble Lord’s assessment about the importance of tackling youth unemployment. Indeed, we have set a bold new target of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning, whether academic, technical or through an apprenticeship, by age 25. Indeed, as the House heard from my noble friend Lady Smith of Malvern earlier, we have a youth guarantee, and we have Alan Milburn leading an investigation into the cause of NEET, and he is working at pace. There will be an interim report in the spring and a report with recommendations in the summer. We are taking this very seriously and we will act on it.

I completely agree with the noble Lord’s assessment about the importance of tackling youth unemployment. Indeed, we have set a bold new target of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning, whether academic, technical or through an apprenticeship, by age 25. Indeed, as the House heard from my noble friend Lady Smith of Malvern earlier, we have a youth guarantee, and we have Alan Milburn leading an investigation into the cause of NEET, and he is working at pace. There will be an interim report in the spring and a report with recommendations in the summer. We are taking this very seriously and we will act on it.

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Yes, we have.

Yes, we have.