Monmouthshire County Council is to develop a dedicated work based training and learning outlet. Monmouthshire Training will plan, co-ordinate and deliver work based training in the county to maximise the benefits of government backed welfare to work schemes such as the Apprenticeship Scheme, the Wales’ Jobs Fund and the Work Programme. And it will provide better opportunities for the 6000 workless people in the county.
Monmouthshire has already secured 117 work based training and learning placements for Monmouthshire, broken down as follows:
- 55 apprenticeships
- 32 traineeships (youth unemployed)
- 30 steps to employment (adult unemployed)
Dependent on the precise breakdown of the placements at delivery stage, in income terms this represents between £500-700k of investment levered into the Monmouthshire economy for job creation purposes.
Monmouthshire Training will provide a range of support services to local people in order to help them on their journey back to work or, through work based learning provision, will help them to achieve industry recognised qualifications. Part of this provision will be to identify suitable employment and/ or placements to help individuals make progress.
Cllr Bob Greenland, MCC’s Cabinet Member for Modernisation, Enterprise and Communications said:
“There real gaps that exist locally in relation to a holistic approach to employment generation. In Monmouth for example, the closure of the Job Centre Plus outlet is being keenly felt and with the CESP project in Overmonnow poised to create jobs and opportunities for local workless individuals, support at this level is clearly required. Consequently, via Monmouthshire Training, talks are in progress with DWP to hold ‘Job Clubs’ in key locations such as Monmouth, in order to fill the gaps left by the departure of JCP.
Cllr Greenland added:
“It is estimated that the average cost of worklessness per individual can total some £62k (Froid Report DWP). This is a pressure on the public purse which we must play a role in alleviating and does not include the additional costs these individual might place on other public services such as education, health, housing and social services.”
