HM Treasury 6
25 November 1997
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CHANCELLOR SETS OUT PLANS FOR JOBS, TRAINING AND CHILDCARE
New initiatives under the Welfare to Work programme are to be
developed to meet the challenges of the new labour market,
announced Chancellor Gordon Brown in his Pre-Budget report today.
The Chancellor said:
"Britain's future success depends on people moving off
welfare and into work. I am improving the New Deal for
lone parents with a massive boost for childcare, which will
particularly help lone parents move from welfare to work.
"Skills shortages have in the past prevented further falls
in unemployment. I am determined that, as we are currently
at a similar stage of the economic cycle, action is taken on
skills shortages to help tackle the problem.
"The programme I have outlined today will also help the
long-term sick and disabled get back into work if they wish
to."
A New Deal for Lone Parents
The New Deal for lone parents is already offering, in eight
areas, personalised assistance with job search, training and
childcare. It will be introduced nationwide from October 1998.
The Chancellor today announced two further developments to
improve it:
- From April, every lone parent seeking to claim Income
Support for the first time will be offered an
interview and advice on job and training opportunities
and childcare.
- The New Deal is primarily aimed at lone parents with
school-age children. But in the eight pathfinder
areas, a number of lone parents with younger children
have asked to participate too. The Government will not
turn these lone parents away. The Chancellor is
therefore allocating a further 25 million Pounds from
the windfall tax on the privatised utilities to enable
those lone parents with pre-school children who wish
to take part in the New Deal to do so.
A 300m Pounds Investment Strategy for Childcare
The Chancellor announced today a 300m Pounds investment strategy
for childcare. Details will be announced tomorrow by the
Secretary of State for Education and Employment and the Secretary
of State for Social Security. Parents - especially lone parents -
need local access to high quality affordable childcare. Over the
next 5 years, the Government - working closely with local
partners - will provide help to every community that needs it to
set up new out-of-school provision: a massive expansion of local
childcare provision designed to meet the needs of working parents
across Britain. This strategy will deliver up to 30,000 new clubs
and up to one million new childcare places. The New Deal also
offers 50,000 unemployed people the opportunity to train as
childcarers and will help deliver this strategy.
A New Deal for the long-term sick and disabled
In the last Budget the Chancellor allocated 200 million Pounds
for a New Deal for sick and disabled people who wanted help to
get back into work. Today he announced that the voluntary
programme would involve tailored help from specialist caseworkers
- including work trials and help for employers. He also
announced that the programme will begin in the Spring with
innovative projects involving the private and voluntary sectors.
Action on Skills Shortages
The economy is now at a key stage in the economic cycle - where
in the past skills shortages and wage inflation have prevented
further reductions in unemployment. There are already worrying
signs. The Skills Needs in Britain survey shows that employers
have difficulty filling 120,000 vacancies because applicants lack
the essential, basic skills to do the job - industry estimates
point to 60,000 IT posts, 10,000 posts in engineering and 5-
10,000 posts in construction.
David Blunkett's Skills Task Force will bring together employers
to examine the problem and advise the Government on how skills
shortages should be addressed. The New Deal will help, but one
cause of skills shortages is the high up-front costs of training
new employees. To address this problem, the Chancellor today
announced that employers who take a new employee under the New
Deal will, if they choose, be able to receive up to three-
quarters of their employer subsidy up-front - to pay for
immediate training to meet skills shortages. This new choice for
employers will be brought in as soon as possible.
Help with transport costs on the New Deal
Travel to work costs can be a significant barrier for young
people moving from welfare to work. The Chancellor today
announced that some of Britains's leading bus and rail companies
- including National Express and Stagecoach - have agreed to
offer young people on the programme discount travel.
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