On Wednesday the 23rd of November, the House of Lords will debate a motion from Lord Shipley to take note of the report, “Skills for every young person” from the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee.
A “motion to take note” is a procedure used in the House of Lords to debate a subject without needing to take a specific decision. It is hoped that this motion will raise awareness of the issues facing young people trying to find employment and highlight the findings of the Youth Unemployment Committee’s report. The report includes evidence from Youth Employment UK’s 2021 Youth Voice Census and the Committee has also made note of our 2022 Youth Voice Census findings.
Youth Unemployment Committee Findings
In their 2021 report “Skills for every young person” the committee identified six “long-standing drivers” of youth unemployment.
- Skills gaps and shortages in existing and emerging sectors, damaging productivity.
- Unequal access to high-quality careers guidance and a decline in work experience opportunities.
- Long-term underfunding and undervaluing of the further education (FE) sector compared with higher education (HE).
- Lack of apprenticeship opportunities for young people.
- Inadequate support for disadvantaged young people.
- Absence of coordination between government departments.
Youth Unemployment Committee Recommendations
In response to what the committee called “this urgent crisis” the report included over seventy recommendations. These included:
- A long-term national plan for identifying, measuring and addressing skills gaps and shortages, with a focus on the needs of the green and digital economy.
- Reform of the apprenticeship levy so that it focuses on young people. Any employer receiving funding from the levy should be required to spend at least two-thirds of it on young people starting apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 before the age of 25.
- An education and workplace race equality strategy that focuses on removing barriers to work for young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. The strategy should be “intersectional given many of the issues concerning race and ethnicity are cross-cutting with socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability and migration status”.
- Access to tailored, one-to-one careers guidance for every disadvantaged young person. This should be assessed by Ofsted.
- An “independent young people’s commissioner for youth aged 16 to 24”, with a specific reference to youth unemployment, education and skills.
How to follow the debate
The debate will take place in Grand Committee and will be broadcast via the Parliamentary website at
The debate will be led by the chair of the Committee, Lord Shipley, and will include a response from the responsible minister in the House of Lords as well as contributions from other Committee members and interested peers.
