BURY is leading the way in trying to boost job prospects for the borough's young people.
People from a range of professional services came together this week for a summit meeting called by Bury's two new MPs, David Chaytor and Ivan Lewis, to discuss Labour's Welfare to Work plans.
They want to put the borough at the forefront of the action once funding for the so-called New Deal becomes available.
The MPs were joined at Bury Town Hall on Monday by senior councillors and officers, together with representatives from local businesses, Bury College, the police and probation service, Bury Unemployed Workers Centre, and the Employment Support Service.
Mr Lewis, MP for Bury South, said: "We are among the first areas in the country to sit down and discuss with all sectors in the community the way forward as far as improving training, education and job prospects for our young people is concerned."
He added: "Bury is proving that it is innovative and ahead of the game. We feel that will bring long-term benefits to the borough."
His Bury North colleague, Mr Chaytor, said: "The meeting was all about working in partnership and I was extremely pleased at the wide representation that was present.
"The general view was very positive and we now hope to build on this optimistic start and create a structure that can really assist our young people."
Council leader Derek Boden described the meeting as very positive, saying he was impressed by what the MPs had to say about Welfare to Work. Coun Boden said it was considerably better than the Tories' Project Work scheme which Bury voted to boycott, saying it was cheap labour offering little choice or long-term prospects.
"One of the biggest differences is, because of the windfall tax, having some resources to put into the scheme," he said.
"I don't think anyone can guarantee jobs afterwards but, once people have gone into training and work, they have a far better chance of getting another job than if they just stopped at home.
"I don't see it as getting people to do drudgery which no-one else wants to," he said. "I think it's a genuine opportunity for people to develop their skills and get job satisfaction.
"If we can shift money away from paying people benefits to helping them do something useful and valuable to the community, it will also stimulate the local economy."
He said the scheme would be augmented by Labour's signing up to the Social Chapter and introduction of a national minimum wage.
Bury will now develop an overall strategy and report back in the autumn, through a new sub-group of the Bury Strategic Partnership.
This will comprise the council, local firms, Bury College, the Employment Service, the Training and Enterprise Council, and voluntary groups.
LABOUR'S New Deal offers four options to young people under 24 who have been unemployed for six months.
The first is a proper wage-earning job for which the employer is paid a subsidy of £60 a week.
People could also do work for a voluntary group or with the Environment Task Force, receiving benefits plus a grant.
Some will be allowed a fourth choice of full-time education.
All four options will last at least six months and include spending one day a week in training or education working towards qualifications.
Each person will be advised on what options are best for them and what is available.
Anyone who refuses to sign up will have their benefits docked, initially for a fortnight and then four weeks for a second refusal.
The scheme will be tried in a number of "pathfinder" areas from January 1998, and it will be introduced nationally next April. Help for people aged over 25, and out of work for two years, will start two months later.
The Welfare to Work programme will cost £3.5 billion, raised from a windfall tax on privatised utilities.
Labour thinks it will help 250,000 young people in the next five years.
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