Ministers visit town's scheme to create employment in recession

GOVERNMENT Ministers were in Barnsley yesterday to see the impact of a £4.2m scheme which aims to get the unemployed back into work.

Barnsley Council applied for the grant money from the Government's Future Jobs Fund, which is ploughing 1bn into creating new jobs in both the public and private sectors.

The scheme also guarantees a job for everyone aged between 18 and 24 who has been out of work for more than six months.

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Yesterday Employment Minister Jim Knight and Regional Minister Rosie Winterton met Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton to discover how the council had been able to work with local employers to provide hundreds of new jobs.

Positions established so far in Barnsley include graffiti removal, catering and giving support to local voluntary groups.

After meeting some of those who have found work through the Future Jobs Fund yesterday, Mr Knight said: "As Barnsley's experience proves, there's a lot we've already achieved in making sure this recession hasn't had the same impact as those in the 80s and 90s.

"By guaranteeing a job, training or work experience to every 18-24 year-old out of work for more than six months, I'm pleased to see our Future Jobs Fund is benefiting so many young people in Barnsley and South Yorkshire.

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"This kind of support is especially important in areas where

communities were left devastated in the past by unemployment. We're determined for that not to happen again."

The new workers were taken on from October 2009 by the council and other employers.

More than 600 jobs are set to be created in Barnsley over the next two years, including more than 400 at the council.

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Each position will give people experience, skills and training in the types of work where there are most likely to be opportunities to find future employment, as well as extra help with their CV and references.

Coun Houghton and John Foster, chairman of the Barnsley Work and Skills Board, have been at the forefront of the scheme.

Ms Winterton, MP for Doncaster Central, said: "The Future Jobs Fund is designed to help young people and other groups who are especially vulnerable to long-term unemployment.

"Barnsley has been a brilliant example of how councils can find imaginative local solutions to help young people, embarking on their working lives, enter the labour market and move up the ranks.

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"Recession can cast a long shadow and we're determined not to leave behind a generation of people in Barnsley plunged into long-term worklessness."

Nationally, the Future Jobs Fund aims to create 150,000 jobs.

However, the scheme in Barnsley hit controversy last autumn after it was revealed that a 58-year-old man was barred from applying for work because he lives 100 yards outside one of the town's unemployment "hot spots".

Robert Courtney had been out of work for 14 months and decided to apply for two jobs under the Future Jobs Fund but was told his address meant he was not eligible to take part.

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Another drive to boost business in Barnsley is also take place today to mark the end of a year-long campaign to promote entrepreneurship in the town.

More than 300 local companies and organisations are expected to attend the session at The Core, which will also be the last event in the Barnsley Work and Skills Board's "Barnsley Needs You" campaign.

Mr Foster said: ""The forum is an opportunity to work out what we can all do to create an economic environment in which we all can thrive."