Young people ‘haven’t had attention they deserve’ admits minister as work funding package announced – UK politics live

Government to fund 350,000 training and work experience placements in sectors such as construction and social careHelen Whately said that the main reason why young people are out of work and training is because they are “moving on to sickness benefits”.She told Sky News:The number one reason why people, young people, are becoming Neet – not in employment, education or training – is because they’re moving on to sickness benefits. Yet we just saw a few months ago where Labour was attempting to make some reforms to this problem (people going on to sickness benefits). They u-turned, they abandoned their reforms. What we’ve seen today announced by the government is funding the best part of £1bn on work placements and government created jobs for young people. That sounds all very well.But the fact is … just two weeks ago, we had a budget from the chancellor, which is expected to destroy 200,000 jobs. Continue reading...