Speech for the Midlands Economic Summit 2026

It is a real privilege to be here at the Midlands Economic Summit 2026, and to stand with Mayors, leaders, employers, practitioners and partners who care deeply about the future of this region and the future of our country.

I am proud to speak on behalf of Business 2 Business. We have spent four decades doing this work where it really matters — in communities, with employers, alongside young people, and in the middle of real-life challenges. Over time, that gives you a very clear view of what works, what gets in the way, and what makes the difference.

And I want to speak plainly today about one of the defining economic and social issues of our time: youth employment and what it will take to turn a worsening national problem into a serious national response. Because this is no longer an issue at the margins. It now sits at the heart of productivity, growth, public service demand, social mobility, and the long-term resilience of our economy.

The Milburn Review has brought needed clarity and urgency to this issue. Its message is stark: over one million young people across the UK are not in education, employment or training. That is around one in seven young people. And the cost to our country is estimated at £125 billion a year. That is not only a labour market problem. It is a social, economic and moral challenge for all of us.

The interim findings are impossible to ignore. In the first quarter of this year, more than one million young people aged 16 to 24 were Not in Employment, Education or Training, referred to as NEET for the first time since 2013. The Review describes this as a generational fault line, and I believe that phrase is exactly right. This is not a temporary fluctuation. It is a warning signal about what happens when labour markets cool, entry routes narrow, support systems fragment, and too many young people lose connection before they have even had the chance to begin.

Behind those numbers are young people with talent, energy and ambition, but who are finding the journey into work harder, slower and more fragmented than it should be. Many are doing everything we ask of them and still struggling to get a foothold.

The Review warns of a generational fault line. Others have described the risk of a lost generation. I think both capture the seriousness of this moment. And if we allow a million young people to drift further away from opportunity, the cost will not only be carried by them. It will be carried by families, by employers, by communities, by public services and by the wider economy for years to come.

I welcome the growing national focus on youth employment and the important contributions being made by organisations such as The King’s Trust, Youth Futures Foundation, the Institute for Employment Studies, Learning and Work Institute, Resolution Foundation, IPPR and Impetus through the Youth Employment Group and others. Their evidence and advocacy reinforce what many of us working on the ground already know: too many young people are being held back from opportunity, and the response must be practical, ambitious and rooted in what works.

The challenge is especially acute in the Midlands, where youth employment outcomes continue to reflect wider structural inequalities.

Recent analysis shows that the West Midlands remains among the regions with the highest rates of young people not in education, employment or training, and the evidence also points to persistent ethnic disparities that affect who gets access to good work and who is left furthest from it. For some communities, these barriers are compounded by geography, disadvantage and a lack of tailored support.

That is why this moment matters. As new policy thinking continues to emerge, our job is to make sure delivery does not wait for perfect conditions. Business 2 Business can help provide that bridge while national reforms embed — turning policy ambition into local action, and working alongside employers, practitioners and partners so that young people get support that feels responsive, trustworthy and grounded in the real world.

Three years ago, many of my colleagues will remember that I set out across the country — visiting projects, meeting practitioners, and uncovering examples of practice that genuinely help people into employment. I did that not because we lacked experience, but because I wanted to test assumptions, stay curious and understand first-hand what truly works, especially for young people.

Despite decades of experience and an already strong bank of approaches, I believed it was important to go back out into communities and see the work for myself. I am glad I did. Every place has its own context, and no single model can simply be lifted and dropped elsewhere, but many of the most effective ideas can be adapted locally to deliver real and lasting impact.

Those insights then shaped the next phase of our work: identifying how exceptional approaches could be embedded into place-based delivery strategies and ensuring that proven practice was translated into action. From that point, I briefed our Business 2 Business team to turn learning into delivery and delivery into results.

That time was well invested. Today, we have a strong bank of approaches shaped by evidence, experience and collaboration — and we know they can support delivery in ways that are practical and effective.

Business 2 Business is now supporting strong outcomes through innovation, partnership and a shared commitment to keep learning. I want to thank everyone who has collaborated with us and continues to support this work. Together, we have helped build something practical, credible and increasingly important at a time when young people need effective pathways into employment more than ever.

I was reminded of this recently in a conversation with the Netherlands Ambassador, where we discussed youth employment and the importance of building systems that help young people stay connected to learning and work. The Netherlands is often cited as an example of what stronger participation can look like, but the real lesson is not to copy another country wholesale; it is to understand the conditions that enable success and apply them intelligently within our own places and partnerships.

The urgency of this agenda is only increasing. Recent national reporting has underlined the scale of the challenge, with around one in eight young people across the UK not in education, employment or training, and warnings that without sustained intervention the numbers could rise further. This is why our work matters now: not as a commentary on the problem, but as part of the practical response.

And perhaps above all, we know this: what works is partnership. Employers, local government, training providers, schools, colleges, community organisations, sector bodies and delivery partners all have a role. The future will belong to those who collaborate better, share evidence more openly, and scale what already proves itself in practice. Partnership is not a slogan. It is a design principle. It is how we make the system less confusing for young people and more effective for the economy.

That means shared accountability. It means clearer pathways. It means stronger links between education, employability and employers. And it means recognising something very simple: young people do not experience our systems in neat institutional boxes. They experience them as one life. If that experience feels fragmented, confusing or distant, many begin to lose confidence and step back. If it feels joined-up, supportive and purposeful, they are far more likely to keep going.

So my message today is simple, but it is also urgent.

Let us listen carefully to the evidence in the Milburn Review, and also to the evidence already held by practitioners, employers and young people themselves. The answers will not come from one report alone. They will come from combining policy clarity with delivery intelligence and acting on both.

Let us back the organisations and professionals who are already doing this work with rigour, care and proven expertise.

Let us support ERSA, the Institute of Employability Professionals, Youth Futures Foundation, Youth Employment UK, colleges, providers, employers and communities that are already building the infrastructure of opportunity.

And let us commit, here in the Midlands, to building a model of youth employment that is practical, connected, ambitious and scalable. A model that recognises the distinct strengths of this region. A model that understands delivery. A model that values evidence. And a model that is willing to build from proven expertise rather than starting again each time the challenge becomes more visible.

And that is why today I want to do something practical. Business 2 Business is opening the door to a new collaboration on youth employment — one that brings together employers, training providers, local authorities, colleges, community organisations and sector partners who want to help shape a more connected, more effective response. A serious effort to share what works, strengthen local pathways, and build something that can make a real difference for young people.

So if you are an employer, a provider, a local authority, a school, a college, a funder, a community organisation, or a sector body that wants to be part of shaping practical solutions, I would warmly invite you to join us. We want to work with people who care about outcomes, who value evidence, and who are ready to turn shared intent into coordinated action. Because the scale of this challenge calls for all of us — and the opportunity is far too important to leave unrealised.

Because if we get this right, we do far more than reduce a statistic. We help young people feel seen, backed and able to move forward. We unlock talent. We strengthen businesses. We reduce long-term cost. We grow our economy. We restore confidence. We widen participation. And we give a generation the start it deserves.

That is the challenge. That is the opportunity. And that is why Business 2 Business stands ready to play its part — with humility, with experience, and with a clear focus on what works. We can contribute practical expertise grounded in delivery, shaped by partnership, and tested through real-world results. Used well, that expertise can help strengthen collaboration, inform better policy, and support more young people into sustainable work.

Thank you.

Veejay Patel, Business 2 Business