Alan Milburn

I think the final point is what's changed on the demand side in the labour market is equally important because it used to be that when you and I were growing up, you know, you could get a Saturday job, you could walk into a part-time job, etc.

And the nature of the labour market's changing.

So what employers are doing is really important as well.

So if you look, for example, at vacancies in...

A sector like hospitality, restaurants, pubs, hotels, where a lot of kids would start their working lives, they're down by 50% in five years.

Retail, they can see, is down by not quite that, but they've been falling for 10 years.

So jobs in shops and hotels and pubs and restaurants, where a lot of kids would start their working lives,

Those vacancies have been falling.

So that's a big problem.

Apprenticeship starts are down by a third amongst young people in 10 years.

So these, if you like, entry routes into employment, they are being closed off.

And if you put that together with the mental health crisis and some of the failures in the system, you've got quite a big problem.

Yes, and obviously we're talking to a lot of employers, you know, small and medium-sized as well as sort of the bigger employers.

So, you know, obviously we talk a lot to, you know, I had a meeting the other day with the chairman of Marks & Spencers, for example, while we were talking to Sainsbury's.

Yeah, the old Archie, yeah, exactly.

So I saw Archie the other day over at M&S HQ.

Didn't offer me a sandwich, which was very disappointing, by the way.

But he did tell me that one in eight prawns sold in the UK are sold in Marks and Spencer's.

One in eight prawns, apparently.

So you learn something every day.