EACH week the town’s two MPs, Helen Jones in Warrington North and David Mowat in Warrington South, let us know what they have been up to. This week Mrs Jones talks jobs prospects for the youth of the town

 

LAST week I was lucky enough to be invited to the apprenticeship and career fair held at Birchwood Centre.

I met companies which were keen to provide excellent training for the apprentices they recruited and some fine young apprentices who are already benefiting from the chances they have been given.

We ought to remember that, although young people often get a bad press, most of them are like the people I met last Thursday – honest, hardworking and keen to get a start in life.

A good apprenticeship can provide that start for many people and we need more of them.

We can also help create a new generation of skilled workers by ensuring that every large firm that wins a major government contract must commit to providing apprenticeships.

I also believe we should tackle the recent rise in lowquality apprenticeships and ensure the creation of more gold standard qualifications, trusted by both employers and young people. For example, a new baccalaureate for 16 to 19-year-olds, with rigorous vocational qualifications accredited by employers, and new technical degrees as the pinnacle of a new vocational route.

Some courses which have been re-branded as ‘apprenticeships’ are poor, often in-house and designed simply to access funding.

That’s not only unfair to the people who take them up, it’s unfair to decent companies who do provide good training.

Sadly, too many of our young people are not in the fortunate position of those I met last week.

Many, including graduates, are working in low-paid, unskilled jobs which do not provide training. We simply cannot continue this way.

We will never undercut poorer countries on wages; instead we need to compete on skills.

That’s why we should guarantee a starter job to every 18 to 24-year-old who has been claiming jobseeker’s allowance for more than a year, paid for with a tax on bank bonuses and restricting pension tax relief for the most wealthy.

We must invest in our youth by ensuring they are in work and receiving proper training.