Government disappoints again on skills

Labour says the Government’s plans for a "hub" to help Canterbury employers find skilled workers is too little and too late.

"Once again the Government is promising big, and failing to deliver,” Labour’s Tertiary Education Skills and Training spokesperson, Grant Robertson said.

“A hub such as this may be a useful coordinating mechanism, but the bottom line is that we should have started the process of creating a skilled workforce for the Christchurch rebuild long before now.

“The Government has been far too slow in its support of the training opportunities that would have done that, with latest available figures showing it has only spent $7 million of the $42 million allocated for skills training.

“It has let the people of Canterbury down by its hands off, she’ll be right approach,” said Grant Robertson said.

Labour’s Youth Affairs spokesperson, Megan Woods, said while skills brokers seconded to the hub would help with some employment opportunities, Cantabrians were frustrated with the lack of any real action: “Many have expressed disappointment that the Government is not listening to them.”

She said her member’s bill to implement Labour's policy to convert the dole for 18 and 19 year olds into a subsidy for apprenticeships was one practical way to increase skills and help young people into long-term work.

“If the Government truly wants to give young people a stake in our future, then it needs to back the bill,” Megan Woods said.