• 2 days ago
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.