House of Commons
15 October 2026
Contents updated on 15 Oct 2026
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Actual start House of Commons
Follow its sittings35:06 - 35:14
Speaker 3
Order, order. Questions to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. Afzal Khan.
35:14 - 35:18
Speaker 1
Question number one, Madam Deputy Speaker.
35:18 - 35:49
Speaker 2
With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I shall answer questions one and five together. Everything my department does, from industrial strategy, small business support, trade and exports to innovation and science, has at the heart of it the creation of good jobs. In the UK, with the specific reference to jobs for young people, there are challenges, that is no doubt. But youth unemployment has shown to be outperforming comparable economies like France and Italy, and of course the government has a further agenda in this area.
35:49 - 36:28
Speaker 4
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The wonderful family-run ice cream farm in Tattenhall is one of our region's largest youth employers, giving many young people their very first job. But current rule limits children below school leaving age to just two hours' work on Sundays, even during school holidays.
For rural businesses, where parents often have to drive considerable distances to get their kids to work, this simply isn't practical. Will the Secretary of State review this restriction while maintaining important safeguards, so businesses like the ice cream farm can offer more young people that vital first work experience?
36:28 - 36:29
Secretary of State.
36:29 - 36:55
Speaker 2
Well, I appreciate the honorable lady's question. It is a subject that has come up with me before, both on a constituency basis and as Secretary of State. I do think there's the potential to look at the regulations in this area. I don't think it's about any sort of sense of exploitation, but reasonable opportunities provided for young people in a way that can actually be what the young people themselves are desiring. So I promise I will go and look at that and write to the honorable lady with further information.
36:55 - 36:56
Joe Robertson.
36:56 - 37:22
Speaker 5
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Jobs and opportunities for young people have dried up over the last two years because the government has made it more expensive to employ them.
On the Isle of Wight, it's compounded our pre-existing structural problems. Will the government now do the right thing and halve national insurance contributions for employing under-25s to help grow more opportunities and jobs for young people?
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