Two government ministers to give evidence to Lords Committee looking at EU youth unemployment
Esther McVey MP, Minster of State for Employment, and Matthew Hancock MP, Minister for Skills and Enterprise, will both face questions from the Lords Committee charged with investigating high levels of youth joblessness across Europe.
Next Monday 3 February the House of Lords EU Sub Committee on the Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment, will ask the ministers about the effectiveness of the Youth Contract policy, which witnesses criticised as unsuccessful, and will ask why domestic levels of youth unemployment outstrip those in countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the OECD average.
Other questions which the Committee will ask the ministers include:
- Does the problem arise from a lack of demand from businesses, or the quality of skills and attitude amongst young people?
- Are you concerned about the quality and availability of careers advice and support for young people? Do you think EU funds could be used more effectively to tackle this issue?
- Do you believe the EU Structural and Investment Fund plans being drawn up by Local Enterprise Partnerships are properly tackling youth unemployment?
The Committee has also used Twitter for this session in order to broaden the range of questions they want to put to the witnesses, asking the public to suggest their own using the hashtag #jobs4youth.
Deadline for tweeting a question is 4pm Friday 31 January.
The evidence session will start at 4.15pm on Monday 3 February in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.
