Hospitality gave me my first job. Now it can give 100,000 more young people a start.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism and UKHospitality have been making a simple argument to government – this sector is uniquely placed to help deliver the Prime Minister’s twin ambitions of getting young people into work and spreading growth to every postcode.

From our biggest cities to coastal and rural communities, hospitality and tourism create jobs where people actually live, in places other industries too often overlook. I’m now pleased to say the government has listened.

A new partnership between the Department for Work and Pensions and UKHospitality will create 100,000 job opportunities for young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). This is so important in Blackpool, where we have the highest youth NEET rate among urban areas in England – 21%.

Over the next three years, 16 of Britain’s biggest hospitality employers – including Nando’s, McDonald’s, Marriott, Whitbread, Wagamama, Fuller’s and Merlin Entertainments, which operates many of Blackpool’s attractions, will offer unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds paid jobs, work experience and training.

Merlin operates the tower and other major Blackpool attractions

Some will be recruited straight into roles. Others will gain real workplace experience with a guaranteed interview and the prospect of a job at the end of it.

I’ve mentioned many times how I got my first job at 14, selling souvenirs from a stall on Blackpool promenade. When I was a bit older I started working in hospitality – a job at Pizza Hut saw me through my studies. It offered the flexible hours, evenings and weekends that I needed to fit around university commitments, and full-time hours during the holidays. With branches across the country, it allowed me to work anywhere.

Alan Milburn’s review on young people and work found that nearly six in ten young people who are NEET have never had a job at all. Hospitality jobs are the vital first rung on the ladder – giving young people their first job, their first pay packet, confidence, skills and a route into a career.

For many, a job in hospitality will be the start of a long-term career in the sector. For others, it will be a chance to discover what they want to do in life, build their CV and gain the experience to take their next step. Few sectors can create those opportunities in virtually every community in Britain in the way hospitality can.

This new partnership builds on last month’s announcement of 100,000 jobs in retail and more than 400 employers are already backing the wider Jobs Guarantee. It’s part of a much bigger commitment – an additional £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and Growth and Skills Levy, supporting almost a million young people and creating up to half a million opportunities to earn and learn.

Taken together, this is a serious attempt to make sure young people aren’t left stuck outside the jobs market before they’ve even had the chance to get into it.

As Chair of the APPG for Hospitality and Tourism I’ve been making the case for this partnership with evidence from the businesses and workers on the front line, not just in Westminster. I’ve seen the demand first hand – this year’s Blackpool jobs fair brought together 120 employers offering 2,000 roles, and more than 5,000 people came through the door, many of them young people looking for exactly this kind of first step. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden joined me to open it and it’s encouraging to see him now backing a national version of that same idea for the hospitality sector.

This is great news for young people and for the hospitality industry. Any young person who wants to find out more can speak to their local Jobcentre work coach about the Youth Guarantee opportunities available. A young person’s first job can be the moment everything else becomes possible – a reason to get up and to see the next step within reach.

Hospitality and tourism gave me that start, and I’m proud that, through this partnership, they’re about to give it to another 100,000 young people across the country.