The NHS and Youth Participation Conference
Delivering the Milburn Review: How the NHS can create opportunity, improve health and strengthen local economies
The Milburn Review highlights that health is a central factor in youth disengagement with the workforce. Poor health and lack of opportunity are increasingly acting as a barrier to participation.
The NHS therefore has a critical role to play in increasing youth participation in the workforce: it is the country’s largest employer, purchases and commissions billions of pounds of goods and services and is a key anchor institution within every community.
This conference, the first to follow the publication of the Milburn Review, will explore how the NHS can step up to the challenge and effect real change for young people within the communities it serves, support economic inclusion and deliver better health outcomes.
This will include learning from those already delivering work up and down the country, hearing from people with lived experiences, and give participants an opportunity to jointly develop plans of action to take forward into their own systems and organisations.
We will be joined by:
- Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire
- Ben Morrin, Chief Executive, NHS Employers
- Bill Jones, Executive Principal, Leeds City College
- Sarah Morgan, National Strategic Advisor for Youth Participation and Health, The NHS Alliance
- Andi Orlowski, Director, Health Economics Unit
This event is being delivered in partnership with The NHS Alliance, NHS Employers, NHS England, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Association of Colleges and Leeds City College.
Who should attend?
This event is aimed at:
- Senior leaders within the NHS
- Those leading on youth-related projects across the NHS
- Wider public sector and people leaders who are leading on widening participation and local recruitment in their own area.
Attending the event
The conference will be at Leeds City College Printworks Campus on 19 November 2026. This is approximately 20 minutes from Leeds Railway Station. This event is free to attend. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Aims
The Milburn Review will highlight the need to act on this agenda and the important role the NHS must play. This conference will be the first national event post the Review, offering a unique opportunity to focus on how we can deliver for young people and tackle the crisis of our time in every region. We want you to come away from the event with:
- Greater awareness of the policy context, programmes and funding, and how to integrate them.
- Shared understanding of the role the NHS can play in enabling youth participation in the workforce, as well as the good work already being done across the health sector.
- A dedicated opportunity to consider and prioritise the specific ways in which your part of the NHS can enable better youth employment and participation outcomes.
- A say in what the right national support offer is to accelerate and enable you to champion this work and effect change in your organisations based on your priorities.
What to expect
The event will run from 9:30 to 16:00, including time at the start for networking.
- Emma Joussemet, Premier League: Discussing their new commitment to support more than 250,000 young people at risk of becoming NEET over the next five years
- Charlie Presley, One Gloucestershire ICS: Showcasing the We Want You campaign, supporting young people who are not in education, employment or training through work experience, pre-employment programmes and direct recruitment into clinical and non-clinical roles.
- Katy Brownbill, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHSFT: Sharing their 'Dream Big' programme getting young people interested in NHS careers and apprenticeships, along with the New Hospital Programme.
- Iain Hook, University Hospitals Morecambe Bay NHSFT: Demonstrating the importance of T-Levels, supported internship programmes and work experience through their award-winning programme with schools and colleges across the region.
- Meredith Dixon-Teasdale, Sheffield City Council: Discussing local NHS partnership working with their NEET Reduction and Prevention Strategic Plan and the city's "Belonging" Aspiration, targeting school attendance and local family security.
- ...and even more from the Association of Colleges and Leeds City College.
- You will also be able to meet and hear from young people