UK minister studies Ireland’s drop in youth joblessness for new policy report

Alan Milburn, a former UK cabinet minister, headed a fact-finding mission to Dublin to understand why Ireland’s youth not-in-education-employment-training (NEET) rate dropped from 14.3% in 2015 to 6.1% last year, while the UK’s climbed to 12.8%. Accompanied by officials, charity leaders and South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard, he visited an Irish Rail apprenticeship workshop, a DEIS-funded secondary school and a north-Dublin youth centre, speaking with trainees such as Alyx Tobin and teachers Sarah Green and Cheryl Keeler.

The delegation observed Ireland’s emphasis on technical education, work experience and community support, contrasting with Britain’s recent cuts to youth services and rising living costs. Milburn will incorporate these observations into a report for the UK government slated for release this autumn, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham rolls out new apprenticeship bursaries and Labour debates further welfare reforms. Mental-health charity Mind’s director Sarah Hughes warned that the UK’s approach still leaves many young people “hard to reach”.