 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Budget 2011: Osborne targets youth unemployment George Osborne in his budget said that he would increase the number of places on a government-funded work experience programme and announced an extra 50,000 apprenticeships. Some 100,000 young people will be offered work experience to reduce Britain's escalating problem of youth unemployment, the chancellor announced in his budget. George Osborne told the Commons he would increase by five times the number of places on a government-funded work experience programme – from 20,000 to 100,000 over the next two years. Under the scheme, which was launched in January, Jobcentre Plus matches 18- to 21-year-olds with employers. They then work unpaid for up to eight weeks. The young people do not lose their benefits during this time. The number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training – "neets" – in England hit a record year-on-year high at the end of last year, official statistics recently showed. Some 938,000 young people in this age group were neets, quarterly statistics from October to December reveal. Osborne told the Commons: "We will deal with youth unemployment, which has been on a steady rise." Osborne also announced an extra 50,000 apprenticeships over the next four years, which would take the total in that period to 250,000, at an extra cost of £180m. Some 10,000 of these will be for the most highly skilled trades in fast-growing small- and medium-sized firms. The government meets half the cost of apprenticeships. The chancellor said that while in Austria and Germany one in four businesses offered apprenticeships to young people, in England just one in 10 do. "This government is backing real training in secure jobs," he said. In another attempt to improve technical skills, Osborne announced that the coalition would fund 24 new university technical colleges. These are schools for pupils aged 14 to 18, which specialise in technical skills, such as engineering and construction. They will be run as academies and offer GCSEs in some subjects. The idea has come from Lord Baker, a former Conservative education secretary, and is based on Germany's Realschule. The schools will be set up in collaboration with employers and universities. Some comprehensives fear they could lose pupils as a result. The chancellor also announced nine new university centres to encourage innovative manufacturing. The Association of Learning Providers, which assesses whether young people have successfully completed their apprenticeships, said the need to find companies willing to take on apprentices was urgent. Paul Warner, the association's director of employment and skills, said: "We need to find places with employers for this summer's school-leavers who want apprenticeships or at least to get on the ladder to full apprenticeships in new access programmes around the country." The chancellor also announced an extra £100m for research.
This article was sourced from guardian.co.uk |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
