They Blog For You

Here is a good example of an announcment by Government that sounds good in theory and doesn't work at all in practice, in fact it is almost comical if it wasn't so depressing.

Graham Hill from  www.verbatim-cc.co.uk wrote to me as follows:

Re Youth Unemployment:

I have been campaigning via the regional press and media on this subject and to date I have been interviewd on BBC Radio Berkshire and Newbury Sound. ( radio clips attached)

Here is a summary of why we business owners are so frustrated.

In the summer Lord Mandelson announced a series of measures encouraging businesses to take on undergraduate interns, graduates on work experience, modern apprentices etc. He said that government could not do it alone and that we all had a part to play.

I agreed with him because without the young being productively employed and contributing to the tax take, my generation won’t have a state pension. We all benefit from being involved.

My company is a small enterprise with a turnover of £800,000 employing 20 full and part time staff based in Newbury and Faringdon.

We decided we would try and take on a marketing/graphic designer on paid work experience from Reading University for a specfic project and look at also employing a modern apprentice.

My first port of call was to phone Job Centre Plus to ask about Lord Mandelson’s announcement and who could point me in the right direction.  No one could help.

I called Reading University, who after speaking to about five people, gave me a name, telephone number and email contact of the person in charge of student placements. I called and left three voicemail messages and a sent an email. No response. So I gave up.

I checked the job centre website where I found a link to Backing Young Britain http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/backingyoungbritain/

This is really smart looking website telling me what support is available but not how I can access it. There is no telephone number or a form to complete with a request.

I then found that I could register our support by leaving a comment and adding my logo http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/backingyoungbritain/backing

If you scroll to the end you will see us just above Virgin Media.

A few weeks went by and I received a call  saying that as a backer of “Backing Young Britain” would I like to attend a conference in Westminster on the subject. I said I would be delighted- then came the sting- “that will be £595.00 a special price as you are registered on the site!”

I replied, you should be paying me to come- I offered to speak on behalf of the small business community for free but was turned down.

Once more we have rhetoric and spin and no real help for business owners. Our local Business Link advisor wasn’t even aware of this site or the content.

There are 4million small businesses in this country employing 1-20 people( I am not too sure of the 1-20 figure) but as I said on the BBC if only 1 in 5  small businesse took on a modern apprentice we would solve youth unemployment over night.

How government can help.

1.       Provide a one stop shop for information

2.       Brief Job Cente Plus,Business Link and Chambers of Commerce with the facts that we can access easily.

3.       Think about discounting the employers National Insurance contributions by 10% for each existing 10 members of staff employed, on condition that they employ one full time  young person and train them.This would be a real incentive. The tax take on the newcomer and savings on the public purse would surely be net gain.

I have attached my press release and edited sound files  of radio interviews for background informatiom

One million young unemployed is a national disgrace.

A frustrated constituent.