Clegg invests in teenage skills
DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg will today announced £16m will be invested in a pay-by-results scheme that aims to get young people into work in Yorkshire.
Charities and businesses will have the chance to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 for very 16 and 17-year-old they help into trianing or a job.
Organisations will be paid for taking young people on with additional payments rewarding progress.
Speaking this morning, Mr Clegg will say: “Sitting at home with nothing to do when you’re so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years. It is a tragedy for the young people involved – a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole. This problem isn’t new, but in the current economic climate we urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed.
“Many of them will have complex problems: truancy, teenage pregnancy, a lack of GCSEs and health problems. So helping them onto their feet will not be without challenges and Government cannot do this alone. But we all have a duty to reach out to the young people who can be hardest to reach. That’s why today I am calling on charities and other organisations at the coal face to work with Government to help tens and thousands of lost teenagers onto a brighter path.”
Organisations in Yorkshire and Humber will be able to bid for a share of £10.8m while the councils in Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford will get a specific pot of £5.7m to spend in their areas as part of the Government’s ‘city deals’ initiative.
