News6

Let's get young people into work

In addition, too many children do not have working role models at home. According to Lewisham Council's figures, there are as many as 17,000 children who live in households where there is no adult in employment.

We need to make sure that these young people don't think that they are destined to be out of work too.

Jonathan Clamp made these points to David Cameron last month. David wants a Conservative government to focus on improving young people's prospects.

These are some of our plans to do that:

Education

- Create 10,000 extra university places in 2010.

- Put a trained careers advisor in every secondary school and college.

Training

- Fund 400,000 more apprenticeships, work pairings and training places.

- Bolster community learning to improve skills and employability (this will be aimed at older workers too).

Employment

- Abolish Employer National Insurance on jobs created by new businesses for two years.

- Offer substantial loans to would-be entrepreneurs.

Jonathan Clamp said: "By policies such as these, we want to give young people in Lewisham East a chance to shape their own future."

Under Labour, the number of 16 to 24 year olds who are out of work is at a record high. With about 30,000 people in that age group here, Lewisham feels this problem acutely.