PM announces employment & training plans

Labour’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has announced a package of measures to help 500,000 people into work or training.

Speaking at an employment summit in London, the Prime Minister highlighted £500m to be spent on providing recruitment subsidies for employers, financial help for new business start-ups and enhanced training opportunities for those out of work.

The measures will include:

* "Employers' Golden Hellos" - incentives of up to £2500 paid to employers to recruit and train unemployed people
* extra funding for training places to help unemployed people get new skills to maximise their chances of getting jobs from the 500,000 vacancies in the economy
* opportunities to volunteer to help people back into work habits

Labour Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said:

“With the steps we take today; with the guarantees of support for young and old alike; and with the public investment that this government is prepared to make - it is our determination that Britain lead the world in showing what we can do to help the unemployed and create the jobs of the future - and we can do it best in partnership: Britain working best when Britain works together.”

The investment forms part of the Government’s £10 billion fiscal stimulus that will bring forward public works programmes and create or protect as many as 100,000 jobs in the next year. The PM added that more details of measures such as the school-leaver’s guarantee will be included in a White Paper on opportunities to be released later this week