New Deal Failure Condemned

10.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 5th Jun 2007

Birmingham City Council has adopted a Liberal Democrat motion expressing concern about the unacceptably high level of youth unemployment in Birmingham and calling on the Government to replace the New Deal programme.

"The failure to revise New Deal is a betrayal of the youth of Birmingham and of this country," said Councillor Paul Tilsley (Sheldon Ward) as he proposed the motion. He expressed concern that 1 million young people across the country are not in employment, training or education and called for real training and real jobs for young people.

Seconding the motion, Councillor Jerry Evans (Springfield Ward) highlighted the youth unemployment rate of 16.7% in Birmingham and the wide inequalities between communities. He said that: "It is disastrous that a New Deal programme that cost £1.9 million is only having a 34% success rate in getting people into jobs."

The full text of the motion adopted by Birmingham City Council on Tuesday 5 June 2007 is as follows:

"Council believes that:

• The New Deal programme for young people has not reduced youth unemployment and has failed to maximise positive outcomes and provide value for money. The New Deal spearheaded by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown was one of Labour's flagship policies when they came to power in 1997, who placed a levy on private utility companies to pay for the New Deal.

This Council notes that:

• a report by the independent think tank Reform published in May 2007 was highly critical of the incoming Prime Minister's New Deal programme describing it as "woeful".

• there are currently 505,000 young people nationally unemployed which is 70,000 higher than the figure Labour inherited in 1997.

• in Birmingham the number of young people without work who are registered as unemployed stands at 10,360

• youth unemployment stands at 16.7% in the City compared with a national average of 7.7%

• the New Deal programme for young people has cost £1.9 billion since it commenced in 1998.

• latest figures show that only 34% of people leave the New Deal with a job. Successful outcomes have reduced from 51% which was achieved in 1998 when the programme was first introduced.

• A third of New Deal programmes are now completed by people who have been unsuccessful in obtaining employment previously by the programme.

• The numbers of young people "not in education or training" nationwide has increased by 246,000 from 797,000 in August 2001 to 1,043,000 in February 2007.

This Council resolves:

To write to the new Prime Minister expressing concern that youth unemployment remains unacceptably high in Birmingham and request that the New Deal is replaced with a job entry programme that provides young people with the help they require to secure employment opportunities."