Education employment and skills announcement

Lib Dems welcome new Education, Employment and Skills Strategy

Wiltshire Lib Dem leader Cllr Jon Hubbard has welcomed the adoption of the new Wiltshire Education, Employment and Skills Strategy by Wiltshire Council.

The strategy, which explores the options for adopting a holistic approach to integrating education, employment and skills training across the county, was formally adopted by the council's cabinet at a meeting in Trowbridge on Tuesday.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Hubbard urged the authority to focus more on the opportunities offered by apprenticeships. He also spoke of the importance of ensuring that there is a high quality impartial careers service for young people finishing school, college or university and that more opportunities should be explored for partnership working between schools and employers.

Following the meeting Jon Hubbard commented "I'm delighted that the council is responding to these needs and looking at how we can improve the work undertaken in this area. I must pay tribute to the outstanding work undertaken by some officers in the production of this report and we will be carefully monitoring and evaluating the efforts of the Conservative administration at Wiltshire Council in how they progress its' implementation.

"We need to do more to promote apprenticeships as Liberal Democrats in Government have been doing, Wiltshire's Conservative administration don't seem to understand the value of apprenticeships to many people in Wiltshire" he continued. "This report is a good start and will hopefully provide support for many young people, however these things can only be effective if we improve the quality and value of our transport network, so young people can get to their schools and colleges easily and cheaply".