UK PM Burnham calls youth work and training crisis a 'moral failure'
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the number of young people not in work, school or training is "a moral failure." He wrote that the government should help them first and use benefits as a backstop. Almost a million people aged 16 to 24 are in that group.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training "an economic catastrophe and a moral failure," the BBC and The Independent reported. He made the case in a column in Monday's Times.
Almost a million people aged 16 to 24 are in that group, known as Neets, according to the Office for National Statistics, the BBC and The Independent reported.
"We either invest in the success of our young people or pay for failure through the benefits system," Burnham wrote, according to The Independent. "Today, the welfare system provides an assessment, a payment and, after that, goodbye," he wrote, according to the BBC. "Benefits will become the backstop, not the starting point," the BBC quoted him as writing.
Ministers are set this week to publish plans for 22,400 apprenticeships a year at firms such as accountants and legal services, the BBC and The Independent reported. The BBC reported that the plans also include 40,000 placements in construction.
Alan Milburn, the former cabinet minister who is leading a review of young people and work, said in an interview with The Guardian that money should be shifted from benefits to job support, the BBC and The Independent reported. "We need to redistribute money from the welfare system to more employment support if we are going to end the Neet crisis," Milburn said, The Independent reported. The BBC reported that Burnham said the full review will be published next month.
The Conservatives criticized the government. "Labour have been a disaster for youth jobs," said Julia Lopez, the shadow business secretary, the BBC and The Independent reported. The BBC reported that the Conservatives have said they would cut 36 billion pounds a year from welfare.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said the plans would create "clear pathways into apprenticeships, training and good jobs," The Independent reported.
Chancellor John Healey is due to give his first Budget on October 28, the BBC reported.
What we know: Burnham called the number of young people out of work and school a "moral failure."
What we don't: What the Milburn review will recommend.
Where outlets agree The BBC and The Independent both report that Burnham called the Neet figure "an economic catastrophe and a moral failure" in The Times and that almost a million young people are in that group.
Where they differ The cited reports agree on the key facts so far.