May 20, 2009
COUNCIL LEADERS URGED TO USE JOBS FUND
LOCAL government minister and Wentworth MP John Healey is urging South Yorkshire councils to take advantage of a new £1 billion pot for the creation of new jobs.
The government’s Future Jobs Fund has been set up in part as a response to a report by Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton, which looked at the role councils could play in tackling worklessness in their areas.
The fund sets out to create 150,000 jobs for people at risk of unemployment, helping guarantee work or training for every 18 to 24 year old in danger of becoming unemployed and supporting 50,000 jobs for adults in disadvantaged areas.
As local government minister Mr Healey has been closely involved in the policy, and has now written to council leaders in South Yorkshire urging them to lead bids from their area.
He has told them: “This Jobs Fund is well suited to the needs of our local labour markets and offers great scope for us in South Yorkshire to benefit..
“We know that the economic downturn is affecting different parts of the country differently so we want councils, who know their patch best, to harness the fund to drive job creation from the grassroots.
He added: “In the last recession a whole generation were left on the scrapheap. I am determined that this should not happen this time.”