Young people petition Manchester council over closure of training scheme
Joe Lepper
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Young people in Manchester have collected a 300-strong petition objecting to funding cuts to an employment and training scheme.
The Focus Training scheme has been running at the Higher Blackley Youth Centre in the city for the past 15 years.
But the service is being axed this summer as part of national cuts to the Entry 2 Employment scheme, which funds it.
Two young people who have benefited from the scheme, Rebecca Clough and Dean Booth, were so incensed at the decision to cut its funding that they have raised a petition of 300 signatures, which they have handed to Manchester City Council.
A council spokeswoman said the council is looking to carry on running a similar scheme that helps young people find employment and training, but was unable to give any details.
She said none of the staff involved in the scheme would lose their jobs, adding: "The staff who previously delivered the service have recently been successful in gaining full-time professional grade youth worker roles in a new youth service structure. They will be putting their valuable skills and experience to good use working at other locations to meet the demands of the youth service."
Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Broughton, has said he would be prepared to hand a copy of the petition to employment ministers to highlight the strength of local feeling about the cuts.
He said: "This is a service dealing with young people who perhaps haven’t done so well at school and gives them the opportunity and encouragement to be successful. It makes no sense to me to remove funding for this, especially if the government is serious about cutting long-term unemployment."
But the service is being axed this summer as part of national cuts to the Entry 2 Employment scheme, which funds it.
Two young people who have benefited from the scheme, Rebecca Clough and Dean Booth, were so incensed at the decision to cut its funding that they have raised a petition of 300 signatures, which they have handed to Manchester City Council.
A council spokeswoman said the council is looking to carry on running a similar scheme that helps young people find employment and training, but was unable to give any details.
She said none of the staff involved in the scheme would lose their jobs, adding: "The staff who previously delivered the service have recently been successful in gaining full-time professional grade youth worker roles in a new youth service structure. They will be putting their valuable skills and experience to good use working at other locations to meet the demands of the youth service."
Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Broughton, has said he would be prepared to hand a copy of the petition to employment ministers to highlight the strength of local feeling about the cuts.
He said: "This is a service dealing with young people who perhaps haven’t done so well at school and gives them the opportunity and encouragement to be successful. It makes no sense to me to remove funding for this, especially if the government is serious about cutting long-term unemployment."
