Gauntlet thrown down to Peterborough leaders

Peterborough Telegraph

Cambs and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor Nik Johnson and Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes look ahead to better work and training options for young people

Transcript

00:00The fantastic thing about today is what we're seeing from a Secretary of State is the throne of the gauntlet down to local politicians,

00:07the local combined authority, myself as Mayor, to deliver skills, training, access to education, apprenticeships,

00:14and working with businesses and working with all providers of education to make a real difference to people's lives.

00:21The government has obviously put money aside at a national level and we're waiting on announcements.

00:25We're quite excited that by coming here today it gives us an impression that there is a real focus on this city in particular,

00:33but the wider area as well. It's multifactorial.

00:36Health can be a particular issue, mental health challenges for that age group,

00:41but we have to also look at the opportunities where people have been provided with information, access to training.

00:46So no, I wouldn't specifically focus on health as the number one issue,

00:51but I do actually know that from a personal point of view and having worked with children, teenagers transitioning into the workplace,

00:59there is a real opportunity for more joined up thinking between health provision, education provisions,

01:04and us as local politicians to design services and access to employment and training opportunities a lot better.

01:12It was absolutely brilliant to have Liz Kendall and the new government in Peterborough to help launch the Get Britain Working White Paper.

01:19I was very clear when I stood for election that I wanted to make Peterborough the best place in the country to do an apprenticeship

01:27and to have the ministers in our city meeting employers, meeting apprentices, meeting the college,

01:34to understand how we can do that better is really important to me.

01:38Labour's new youth guarantee will ensure that some of those young people in the city who can't get a job or can't get the training

01:45will now have the provision to do that.

01:48The government's backing that up with new money and new investment into Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

01:53and I'm going to be putting my elbows out, as I've promised to do, to make sure we get the lion's share of that new funding into the city

02:00so that we can increase the number of apprenticeships and get the kind of jobs we need if we want to succeed in the future.

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