APPG for Youth Employment: opening meeting

The APPG for Youth Employment launched its inquiry ‘Making Youth employment Policy Work’ in September following the emergence of troubling youth labour market statistics and the Governments Plan for Jobs announcement in the summer. The first meeting took place on the 21st September with the next meeting taking place on 19th October. There is more information at the bottom of this article.

Inquiry Overview

Following the £3.06bn government investment into new and existing youth employment initiatives in its Plan For Jobs announced in the summer the APPG wants to explore whether or not this investment and the services it intends to deliver will meet the needs of young people and help to minimise the impact of Covid-19 on youth employment.

In this inquiry we will explore the key youth employment programmes and investment to see what the early indicators of success are; it will aim to provide constructive feedback to the government to accelerate impact or suggest improvements that need to be made. You can access the full inquiry information below.

Meeting Context: 21st September

The first meeting of the inquiry explored the latest labour market statistics released in September by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Our guest speakers, Tony Wilson (Director of the Institute for Employment Studies) covered the current state of the labour market, the impact of Covid-19, and the opportunities and challenges young people will face over the coming year.  Our second guest speaker, Samantha Windett (Director of Policy, Impetus), highlighted the importance of the Youth Gap research conducted by Impetus before moving onto the fantastic work of the Youth Employment Group (YEG) and its recommendations -a group of over 100 organisations collaborating to produce recommendations that ensure no young person is left behind.

Thoughts from our Ambassadors

“I found the experience beneficial to have had the opportunity to speak with like minded individuals both from a young person, organisation and government perspective. I gained some experience on public speaking, with some takeaways on what I did well and what I could do better next time. It was encouraging to hear such positive feedback from both the chair and delegates of the meeting whom valued the input from us as ambassadors and young people.” Laurence, Youth Ambassador

“The APPG has been extremely useful! It’s been really good to not only hear the opinions of the other ambassadors, but to also hear the opinions of the MPs and policy experts. So far, everyone has been really encouraging and have always given you a chance to speak.” Ciara, Youth Ambassador and member of the Youth Board

“Through the APPG I have had the opportunity to learn more about what is currently being done to tack youth unemployment and it has also been a unique and much appreciated opportunity to have my voice heard on these issues.” Sophie, Youth Ambassador 

More Information

Inquiry information and submission guidelines can be found here.

Minutes from the first meeting

Visit  our APPG website.

You can register for the next meeting (19/10/2020, 14:00-15:00) here.

The latest Youth Labour Market Statistics can be found here.

Contact: josh@youthemployment.org.uk | 01536 513388

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As experts on youth employment and co-founders of the Youth Employment Group, we are ideally placed to understand the complex landscape facing young people, employers and policy makers.