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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Minister should be take urgent action over skills cash for young people.
March 6, 2007 3:57 PM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Peter Black, has written to Labour Education Minister Jane Davidson to demand that she takes urgent action to ensure that more cash is allocated to training unemployed 16-18 year olds in Wales.
His intervention comes in the wake of reports that the cash provided by the Assembly Government for this purpose will run out by the end of March - four months early - and that young people are already being turned away from courses. A report in the one newspaper has said that nine teenagers had already been denied placements, others have had training halted and hundreds would be turned away unless more cash is provided.
"This is a crazy situation, and one of which the Labour Government was warned last November by training providers," said Mr Black. "I understand that the numbers of unemployed young people taking up training places has risen by almost 20%, and that there has been a huge increase in successful completion of courses. Why is the Government now pulling the plug?"
"Wales needs to increase its skills base, and to make full use of the talents of all of its young people. The £103m budget Labour put aside last year is not sufficient to meet the demand from 16-18 year olds now. Rather than penalising these young people for trying to improve their skills and employability, the Minister should be taking urgent action to provide the extra cash now. The present vague promises are not good enough."
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