PM pledges jobs and training for young

In response to questions from Student Room members, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Government would guarantee a job or training for young people out of work for six months or more, a National Internship Service will be created to tackle the rise in unpaid work placements and careers advice for young people, including for younger children, will be overhauled.

With unemployment hitting a record high, the Prime Minister today told students he would guarantee jobs or training for all young people out of work for six months or more. Responding to questions on The Student Room, the country’s leading student social networking site, the Prime Minister also pledged to create a National Internship Service to tackle the rise in unpaid internships and widen access to professions throughout the country, as well as demanding that employers respect the legal obligations they have to all people undertaking work experience. 

The Prime Minister was responding to ten questions shortlisted from 400 previously submitted by some of The Student Room’s 2.8 million unique users, as part of a series of question and answer sessions with the leaders of all the main political parties. His comments follow previous answers from Nick Clegg and the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas. David Cameron will be responding next week.

The Prime Minister also said a Labour Government would overhaul careers services to ensure children and young people receive better advice and clearer guidance, when considering their long term goals. Previous research from The Student Room revealed that Labour still has much to do to win around sceptical students. Only 24 per cent have pledged to vote for them in the General Election, putting them behind the Liberal Democrats (36 per cent) and the Conservatives (27 per cent). These results, and the rest of The Student Room’s in-depth election coverage, can be found at: file://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/election2010.

The key points of the Prime Minister’s question and answer session include:

Guaranteeing a job or training to young people out of work for six months or longer

The creation of a National Internship Service to improve access to every profession 20,000 additional postgraduate openings as well as 29,000 graduate-level volunteering places Promoting LGBT rights abroad as a key element of foreign policy and Encouraging employers to take a flexible approach to older workers who want to work beyond the standard retirement age. A commitment to removing stamp duty for first time buyers on purchases below £250,000 and putting science at the heart of the economy by ensuring Britain becomes a global hub for Scientists around the world

The Prime Minister also discussed his own impressive track record while at university. He revealed that as a student journalist he successfully led a campaign to disinvest in Apartheid South Africa and was only the second student to be elected Rector, where he chaired the governing body of Edinburgh University.