“Councils are ideally placed to help achieve this, bringing together government, agencies and providers alongside their local leadership and expert knowledge of their areas, as we identified in our Work Local programme."
Responding to the Government’s announcement of 150 new jobcentres opened or extended to help more people get into work and over 150 youth hubs, Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s People and Places Board, said:
“Everybody should have the chance to work or retrain, to help increase their skills and progress without having to move away from home. The labour market has changed significantly due to the pandemic, so people need joined up local support including training and careers advice to go into long-term, satisfactory employment.
“Councils are ideally placed to help achieve this, bringing together government, agencies and providers alongside their local leadership and expert knowledge of their areas, as we identified in our Work Local programme.
“This also builds on the place based employment and skills pathfinders announced in the Levelling Up White Paper. We look forward to working with government departments on how to accelerate the work already underway to extend devolution to more areas, as well as strengthen existing devolution deals.
“With the right resources and flexibility, councils working with national and local partners can deliver the jobs and skills for residents in their communities.”