Naz Sarkar, Labour's candidate for Reading West, has welcomed news that in December the percentage of young people in Reading who were "NEET" (Not in Employment, Education or Training) was only 6.3%, as against just under 10% in the same month in 2008.
"The Government was determined that young people should not suffer in this recession as they did in the last under the Tories," he said, "and they put money in the budget last year to guarantee a place in education, employment or training to every sixteen-year-old.
"A huge amount of work has been done in Reading to deliver that guarantee," he went on, "including the new £3.5 Million vocational centre at Prospect, the Skidz motor vehicle centre in Whitley, 30 apprenticeships being provided by the Council and pressure on other employers to follow suit, NVQ's offered by the Council, and a range of special courses and mentoring schemes - in fact I am told volunteers from 30 local businesses have already signed up to help with an e-mentoring scheme."
"I believe we are, slowly, coming out of the recession," he says, "but we must maintain our support for young people to find work. Even though long-term youth unemployment nationally is a tenth of what it was in the recessions under the Tories, as far as I am concerned even one young person without a job is too many, and I would make it a priority as the local M.P. to champion our young people and press the government to keep its focus on this issue."
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