A delegation of leaders working in education and training across the Tees Valley attended the Labour party conference this week to urge Government action on supporting the region’s young people.  The leaders came together at a conference fringe event hosted by the region’s largest private employer, PD Ports, and supported by Labour’s MP for Redcar, Anna Turley.

Discussions at the event highlighted the significant barriers to employment that continue to affect young people in the Tees Valley, which ranks as one of the most deprived in the UK.  Several ideas emerged about how these barriers can be overcome, including:

• Provide funding for businesses to increase the number of entry-level jobs for young people, learning from successful models in Germany and Norway.
• Remove disincentives to work by excluding 16- to 19-year-olds’ income from calculating households’ entitlement to Universal Credit and other benefits.
• Improve accessibility to employment and training by providing 16- to 19-year-olds from low-income households with free travel.
• Focus on promoting careers and employment in primary schools as well as later stages of education.
• Deliver initiatives to boost the visibility of job opportunities in small and medium sized companies.

Other ideas included encouraging Skills England to develop sector-based skills strategies tailored to the economies of different regions, and fostering partnerships with private sector employers to create specialist skills training programmes.

Speaking after the event, PD Ports Executive Chairman, Jerry Hopkinson, said, “PD Ports is committed to introducing 3,000 young people to careers in maritime by 2030.

“As the UK’s leading ports operator for supporting young people, our event at the Labour party conference builds on that commitment.

“The huge wealth of experience represented at the event offered invaluable insights and ideas about how the Government can help more young people to achieve their aspirations, both in the Tees Valley and beyond.

“We really hope that the event will provide a strong foundation for making a positive difference to the communities we are part of.”

Anna Turley MP said, “Thank you to PD Ports for the opportunity to have this important discussion at this week’s Labour party conference.

“It was fantastic to bring together people working on the frontline of education and training in our region and to learn more about the challenges they face, day-in, day-out.

“I am sure that the ideas raised at the event can help Government find new and better ways to transform the lives of young people in areas like the Tees Valley.

“I will be writing to my colleagues in Government to share the ideas that were raised and to invite them to visit our region to see how we can turn those ideas into action.  The Tees Valley could serve as the ideal testbed for some ideas, especially those which have wider implications for other areas of Government policy.”