We were pleased to be able to attend the Labour Party conference this last week, an event set to mark the direction and pace of the government. Arms filled with this year’s Youth Voice Census results which told a very bleak picture about the levels of happiness, confidence and readiness young people feel about their lives and their futures.
Will Labour make young people a priority?
One of the biggest challenges we have now in tackling youth unemployment is that it is not one single issue. Young people are struggling with so many of the steps from education to employment, that there can’t possibly be one policy change that will make the difference.
A frustration of MPs and Ministers of the last government was that there seemed to be a lack of empathy in understanding the interplay and complexity of these issues. Or a willingness to acknowledge them and the work that needs to be done to understand and explore the solutions.
So it was reassuring to be in conversations and listening to panel debates where there was a good level of understanding and a real sense of compassion for the difficult time young people have had. There was also a really mature dialogue about the cross-departmental work that needs to happen for real change. The will and focus for action was certainly felt.
Some of the sessions and points that we picked up on:
Housing
Both Dept Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP and Mayor Andy Burnham had a breadth of understanding of the housing crisis and its impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, in the session led by Shelter they shared that at the end of 2023, there were more than 145,000 children living in temporary accommodation. The need to build homes, but good social housing was evident and whilst Rayner would not put a fixed target on it, her commitment to drive better house-building policy was clear. And the Mayor shared his commitment to house building across GM.
Social Care
Another crisis affecting children, with estimations that there are over 100,000 young people in social care it is worrying to see the issues of securing quality placements for children and the impact the rising costs have on services. Labour has appointed an ex-social worker to the DfE team to tackle the crisis, as Minister for Children and Families Janet Daby MP has first-hand practical experience of the challenges being faced and her experience gives her a strong platform on which to begin her role.
Enrichment
There were a number of events focused on enrichment and building opportunities for young people. It was good to hear that the government recognises that young people should all benefit from quality activities, youth services and experiences that provide a safe place to grow. Natasha Irons MP who pledged at her election to put young people front and centre was a very active MP at many of the events linked to experience and enrichment.
Skills, Education and Apprenticeships
Lots of interesting discussions and debates on the skills challenge that we have in the UK and what needs to be done to support young people through education and into good quality pathways.
The Curriculum Review is now launched and will be the chance for those of us working in and around education to share our views on what change could make a difference for young people. It was interesting hearing from Catherine McKinnell MP Minister for School Standards, and exploring what ambitions she and the DfE team has for children in education.
Seema Malhotra MP Minister for Migration and Citizenship and former Shadow Skills Minister and Toby Perkins MP also a former Shadow Skills Minister took part in sessions discussing the changes that will come with Skills England and the Apprenticeship Levy change.
We then of course heard from Skills England on the final day of the conference which brought to life the scale of the brief they will be working with.
The Young Person’s Guarantee is a priority for us and for Ministers, with a commitment in the Labour Party Manifesto to deliver on this promise. We have been in a number of meetings prior to the conference with civil servants exploring the mechanics of the Guarantee, but it was good to hear the awareness of the guarantee and commitment from MPs, even those without a direct youth brief. We joined a panel session with the Prince’s Trust and the MPs in attendance along with Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP Minister for Social Security and Disability who discussed the need for the Guarantee to work for everyone everywhere.
Speaking of everywhere, one of the most brain-bending and complex sessions was the one led by the Ruskin Institute for Social Equity, on learning from levelling up, and how we make national policy work through devolution…. It was really interesting to hear from South West Combined Authority Mayor Dan Norris MP and Rupa Huq MP who were able to bring local perspectives to this conversation.
There were thousands of sessions across so many topics that of course we could not cover as we might have liked. But anyone that you spoke to seemed to certainly be feeling that the big society challenges were understood and being explored and as we know, if you do not understand the full extent of the problem it is impossible to fix.
Sir Keir Starmer in his first conference speech as PM, told us that the commitment to change was real. The challenge was understood, but also as we know there is not a pot of money to invest in real change. So what the MPs and leaders will take away from the conference and be able to implement is the biggest unknown. We will await the spending review and hold onto our patience just a little longer to be able to properly judge the effectiveness and will of this new government.
