http://m.lep.co.uk/community/10m-plan-to-give-young-real-jobs-1-4617272

£10m plan to give young ‘real’ jobs

Published: 06 June 2012

Thousands of jobless youngsters are set to benefit from a £10m plan to create professional apprenticeships and training programmes.

The project, expected to be given the green light by Lancashire County Council’s cabinet tomorrow, will see at least 1,000 young people a year provided with some sort of help through a range of county council-delivered programmes.

Earlier this year the county approved one-off funding to promote long-term employment, for young people.

Now they are being asked to approve how the cash will be spent.

Councillors will be told that the five year project, paid for out of the Legacy Fund, will be aimed at all young people but specifically geared towards NEETS, those not in education, employment or training, and young people in care.

The council is hoping to identify areas within its own workforce which have or are likely to have critical gaps in the medium and long term.

The cash will be used to create apprenticeships and training positions in a wide variety of areas within the council from trainee librarians or youth workers to trainee lawyers or social workers.

A report to the cabinet states: “LCC has increased its apprenticeship workforce over the last six years from 16 to over 900 apprenticeships.”

The current programme has been nationally acclaimed as an example of good practice in last year was awarded the National Apprenticeship Service North West Macro Employer of the Year Award.

The latest plan is intended to improve the current provision “by developing a professional career pathways from apprenticeship through to degree level and above” in areas of skill shortages or hard to fill positions.

It is hoped that some of the funding costs will be met from partners, such as Lancashire Adult Learning.

Jobs will be fully advertised.

Paul Champion
www.paulchampionuk.com
www.apprenticeshipblog.com

📱: 07540 704920

Twitter: @blogapprentice
Skype: paulchampion31