Todmorden News

New Opportunities For Young People In Todmorden

£500,000 is being made available in Calderdale to help improve the life chances of 16 and 17 year-olds in the borough. The money will go towards helping to reduce the number of children and young people not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Calderdale Council has agreed with the government that it will reduce from 8.3% to 6.4% the percentage of youngsters who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) by 2010-11.

Members of the Council’s Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel will discuss what is being done towards achieving the proposed reduction when they meet next Tuesday (February 3).

A report will outline a range of provision through different services and agencies to help young people into education, employment and training, including:

• Tailored packages of activities, including skills training and personal development opportunities and personal; support.

• Support to help build young people’s confidence so that they can get back into learning.

The report also outlines how a consortium, including Calderdale and Kirklees Councils and Calderdale and Kirklees Colleges successfully bid for money to address the needs of the most vulnerable and hard to place young people.

The £500,000 available to Calderdale will enable significant development and should assist in meeting Calderdale’s targets.

But the Chair of Calderdale Council’s Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, Cllr Megan Swift is warning that everyone involved needs to ensure that best use is made of the money to secure our young people’s futures:

“At a time when we all know that jobs are hard to come by, it is more important than ever that we do everything that we can support young people by giving them the chance to learn and get skills.

“We will be looking closely at what Calderdale can do with its partners to ensure that young people do not ‘fall through the gaps’, when times are tough. If there are barriers, we need to understand and overcome them.

“Every young person should be able to participate in suitable employment, education or training.

“Targets are important, but, ensuring young people are able to invest in their futures is something we all care deeply about and the Scrutiny Panel is looking forward to learning more about how we will achieve that.”