§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to improve provision for 16 and 17-year-olds who are no longer able to remain in the parental home and who are not in paid employment. [56454]
§ Angela EagleI have been asked to reply.
We are concerned that too many young people are not in either paid employment, training or education. This can lead to disaffection among young people, particularly young men.
There are a number of initiatives underway across Government Departments which will have an impact on education, training and employment opportunities for all young people, and we have set up a Ministerial Group to look specifically at issues affecting boys and young men. The Green Paper "Supporting Families", which was published on 4 November, sets out proposals for strengthening the family unit and providing support to those families dealing with particular problems such as truancy, low educational achievement and bad behaviour, all of which can lead on to unemployment or homelessness among young adults. More broadly, the Social Exclusion Unit is looking at teenage pregnancy and, as announced at the launch of the Womens Unit on 9 November, the issue of underachievement by teenage girls will be examined in the New Year.
In addition, a new educational maintenance allowance—linked to attendance and based on parental income—will be piloted for 16-18 year olds. If, as we expect, the new allowance succeeds in encouraging more young people to stay on in education, we plan to introduce it nationally, using money currently spent on post-16 Child Benefit.
These initiatives are designed to ensure that we tackle the problems in a holistic way, in addition to addressing the question of support through the Social Security system. Our overall aim is to see as many young people as possible staying on in education and training, including those already in jobs.