A much-anticipated report released on May 28 revealed that more than one million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment, or training.
The report has described the situation as a "national crisis of opportunity" as many young people share that they have applied for countless jobs without ever hearing back from potential employers.
Author of the report, Alan Milburn, has taken a sympathetic approach towards young people not in work, education, employment or training (or NEETs), who he told The Mirror earlier this month showed "no shortage of talent or drive" during his review.
Milburn identified the COVID-19 pandemic, its subsequent lockdowns and the long-term consequence of a shift in shopping habits resulting in declining weekend work opportunities as one of the causes of a lack of employment in young people.
But who is Alan Milburn and why was he commissioned to produce this report?
Alan Milburn has his own Cumbrian connection, having been born in Whitehaven in 1958.
However, as a young boy he was brought up on a council estate in the village of Tow Law in County Durham and attended what was considered one of the most deprived comprehensive schools in Newcastle, John Marley School.
He has since gone on to become a Secretary of State for Health, MP for Darlington, and Chancellor of Lancaster University.
In an interview with Lancaster University on becoming their Chancellor in 2015, Milburn shared that at John Marley School, he was advised to become a social security administrator.
His mother married when he was aged 16, however, and Milburn moved with her to North Yorkshire where he was transferred to the more aspirational Stokesley Comprehensive where working towards attending university seemed more achievable.
With top A Level grades, Milburn chose to attend Lancaster University and began studying English before changing to History.
During this time, Whitehaven-born Milburn lived in Morecambe and Galgate, and told the University in his interview that at the time, he did not participate in student politics.
After graduating from Lancaster University, Milburn went on to Newcastle University to pursue a PhD but did not complete it, and instead turned towards running a small radical bookshop, called Days of Hope, in the city.
As a young man, he became active in the Trade Union movement and from 1988 co-ordinated a campaign to defend shipbuilding in Sunderland before being elected Chairman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central Constituency Labour Party.
By 1992, he had become an MP after winning a seat in Darlington, with his modernising approach to politics aligning with Tony Blair's, who held a seat in the neighbouring constituency of Sedgefield.
Milburn went on to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Health between 1999 and 2003, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
During this time, Milburn had settled in the North East, and in 2010, he resigned from party politics, but continued a focus on social mobility.
In 2012, Milburn became chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, an independent advisory body which monitors the progress of promoting social mobility across the UK.
He was invited to become Chancellor of Lancaster University in 2015 and continues to serve in this capacity - in the same year, he criticised Labour's health plans during the election campaign, which would have limited private sector involvement in the NHS.
However, Milburn was later criticised for his involvement, after it became known that he had a personal financial interest in the private health sector.
With his background in social mobility research, in 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer asked Milburn to head the Young People and Work review into why more than one million young people are not in education, employment, or training.
At a conference on May 28, the day of the report release, Milburn said that 16-24 years olds out of work and education are not "softer, flakier, less resilient, [or] more willing to blame mental health than actually suffer from it" but are suffering from a shortage "of opportunity and of support".
The report is set to push for a reform of schools, the health system, local government, and the welfare state.
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