06 March 2009
By Paul Dicken in Cardiff
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced that £7m will be used to prevent teenagers falling out of education and training or becoming unemployed.
In a pioneering use of European Union funding, the initiative – labelled Pre-Vent – will use almost £4m from the European Social Fund to help young people who find it difficult to learn or are at risk of leaving school without qualifications or skills.
The three-year programme will target 11 to 13-year-olds and will be led by Blaenau Gwent Council, in collaboration with Bridgend, Caerphilly and Merthyr Tydfil councils.
The deputy minister for skills, Labour’s John Griffiths, said it was the first time that a European-funded project had been created to target 11 to 13-year-olds. ‘Pre-Vent will address the underlying cause of disengagement and through that, the tendency to longer-term unemployment and economic inactivity.’
In 2007 the unemployment rate for under-25s was more than double that for people over 25. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned that young people not in education, employment or training (Neets) could be worst hit by the rise in unemployment.
The Local Government Association said last month that Britain risked creating a ‘lost generation’ of young people falling into long-term unemployment as a result of the recession unless action was taken.
The Pre-Vent project will bring together teachers, youth workers and community youth leaders to identify those most at risk of becoming Neets. Tailored support packages will be designed to boost confidence and provide information on vocational learning.
A spokesman for the Heads of the Valleys regeneration programme at Blaenau Gwent said the Neet scheme would seek to break down barriers that prevent people gaining the most of their education in ‘the critical early years of secondary school’.
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