MPs praise our scheme to get young people into work

Evening Standard’s Ladder for London campaign to get more young people into work has been praised by MPs for highlighting the issue of youth unemployment.

The campaign provides a way for firms to take on paid apprentices. So far companies have pledged to create 696 apprenticeships.

Stephen Timms, Labour’s spokesman on welfare reform, said: “Ladder for London is a great example of effective newspaper campaigning ... inventive and imaginative. It is the kind of thing the media should be doing.”

Mr Timms, MP for East Ham, was speaking at the Youth Employment Convention in central London, organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

Tristram Hunt, shadow minister for youth, praised the campaign for highlighting vocational training and further education. Some 117,000 Londoners aged 16 to 24, about one in four of that age group, are jobless. More than 1.3 million young people in Britain are not in jobs, education or training.

Gareth Jones, deputy chief executive of charity City Gateway, a Ladder for London partner, said: “Evening Standard’s work will help businesses see there is still a long way to go. It is not too late to become involved.” Visit eveningstandard.ca/ladderforlondon