2012 taskforce tackles child poverty

Announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and senior members of the London 2012 team, they will form part of a programme to provide 75,000 jobs to Londoners by 2012.

Young people who are workless will benefit from a 'Pre-Volunteering Programme', offering training in areas including basic health and safety, customer care and service.

Once trained, they will make up ten percent of the estimated 70,000 volunteers needed for the Games and will have a better chance of getting permanent employment before 2012.

An 'Employment Accord' will also provide training and entry-level positions for young people who lack basic skills.

The measures from the London Employment and Skills Taskforce for 2012 (LEST) will fit into a wider strategy to use the Games to fight unemployment and poverty across the UK.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "Worklessness is the main contributor to child poverty in the capital and these initiatives will ensure many people who currently lack basic entry level skills training will soon have a range of options to prepare them for employment as well as providing the all important jobs and volunteering opportunities which they can apply for.

"This work will improve the lives of thousands of Londoners in some of its poorest boroughs, especially our children and is a major step forward in tackling the capital's unacceptably high levels of child poverty."

18 October 2006