'Seeing the opportunities that are there for young people is actually very exciting'

MP for Wrexham

The jobs market has changed incredibly over recent years; when I left school (too long ago to mention!) you picked a career and it wasn’t unreasonable to expect to be able to stick it out until retirement. However, these days the employment market is far more fluid, with Covid-19 arguably accelerating a trend that was already on its way. As a result, it is incumbent upon politicians and government to ensure that the structures are in place to support people transitioning into employment or across careers. This is especially true in tough times like we have seen over the past year.

In response to the coronavirus crisis, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has taken steps to ensure that, wherever possible, apprentices have able to continue and complete their apprenticeship, despite any break they need to take as a result of COVID-19, and to support providers. Measures include encouraging training providers to deliver training remotely and online, allowing the modification of end-point assessment arrangements, including remote assessments wherever practicable and possible. This is just one example of UK Government action to support our workforce and grow our economy. Other initiatives include the Kickstart Scheme, which is helping to provide apprenticeships to young people on Universal Credit, or the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which is providing £1.5 billion in capital funding to give adults the chance to take free college courses thereby improving their knowledge, skills and employability.

Last week, to find out more about what the UK Government is offering to people in Wrexham I was joined by the Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP, at a local (and BAFTA award winning) media company, Eternal Media, to hear about their recent projects. In particular, we visited to hear about their ‘9 Day Filmmaking Academy’, an on-going project supported by a UK Government scheme under the Department for Work and Pensions’ Flexible Support Fund. This fund links those on Universal Credit with local projects to help them gain new skills, find new passions and, hopefully, enter a career that they enjoy and can thrive in.

Participants of Eternal Media’s academy work together over a 5-week period to create and produce a video to an original music soundtrack, learning new technical and problem-solving skills in the process. The aim of this is to help participants gain experience in the field of media production, whilst also encouraging the development of soft and transferrable skills that could be utilised across a range of employment sectors.

Having visited, it is clear to see that Eternal Media are doing an excellent job of reskilling and upskilling participants of the courses, helping them to widen their horizons and seek new employment opportunities. The excitement many participants felt about their courses and the skills they had learnt was obvious and they all showed a true passion for what they were doing. Moreover, I was also extremely proud to see projects such as this, which work locally with the Job Centres to get people into work, providing skills, confidence, and support to job seekers in Wrexham.

If you had told my generation when we left school that the labour market was going to become what it is today, we no doubt would have been nervous about that. But, despite the coronavirus pandemic and all it has brought, seeing the opportunities that are there for young people is actually very exciting.

As always if you are resident in Wrexham and need my assistance with any local or national issue, please make contact with me by emailing sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk.