Youth contract 'not enough' to tackle unemployment
The Government's Youth Contract will not be enough to deal with unemployment among young people, MPs have warned.
The Work and Pensions Select Committee said although some aspects of the scheme were positive, there also needed to be "a substantial increase in the number of new jobs".
Committee chairwoman Anne Begg warned the Government had been "slightly ambitious" in its target of how many young people would be helped by the programme, and criticised the confusion caused by the "plethora of agencies" involved.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne said it was a "wake-up call" for the Government.
But Employment minister Mark Hoban argued that businesses were enthusiastic about the potential for the scheme.
"This scheme was only introduced earlier this It’s in its early stages, we’ll publish data on this early in the new year, so let’s look at that and see what works and I think what we are, the clear message we’re getting from employers is a wage incentive is a good way of getting people into work," he told the Today programme.