Businesses must offer opportunities to unemployed young people - Yorkshire Post Letters

The numbers of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds in the Northern Powerhouse are some of the highest in the country – the worst being the North East, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West half way down the list.

We need to see businesses in the Northern Powerhouse step up and offer opportunities through the Kickstart scheme as we have greater demand for it here.

We as a Partnership will ourselves commit to do this, because we need to see the young unemployed getting experience in leading capabilities like energy, health innovation, advanced manufacturing and digital as well as creative industries that have secure longer-term prospects.

There is still a need for a patient capital fund for Northern businesses to grow, and more local investment capabilities for our metro mayors to draw on.

We will be steadfast on both those fronts alongside accelerating major infrastructure investment – such as HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail – in the impending Autumn spending review, because we need an economic stimulus that supports a transition to a fundamentally more-productive economy.

From: Andrew, Hibbitt, Chief Operating Officer, Doncaster Chamber.

IT is absolutely imperative that young people are central to our economic recovery plans. We therefore welcome the Government’s announcement about the Kickstart Scheme, which will help Doncaster businesses create and support thousands of opportunities for young people (The Yorkshire Post, July 8).

We know that 16 to 24-year-olds have been significantly impacted as a result of Covid-19, which is why this scheme is a great opportunity to invest in the futures of our young people, providing the platform to develop better skills and high quality jobs.

Through our education team, Opportunities Doncaster, we will be supporting businesses on the ground to access the scheme, to create high quality opportunities and engage with young people.

From: Dr Adam Marshall, Director General, British chambers of Commerce.

BUSINESSES will celebrate many of the Chancellor’s announcements, although it is likely that the scale of the stimulus needed to help the UK economy restart, rebuild and renew will need to be greater still over the coming months.

Targeted measures to help young people gain work experience and enter the labour market at this challenging time are welcome, and, so too is the focus on a greener recovery and the acceleration of key infrastructure projects. The VAT cut will help firms in the hospitality and tourism sectors working hard to restart after many months of lost revenue.

Over the coming weeks the Chancellor will also need to address the ticking clock on a number of other key concerns – including the impending end of key business loan schemes, and the unanswered question around what support will be offered to businesses and communities that face local lockdowns.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor