Jobs and Education

The Government plans to invest an extra £600m to fund 100 additional Free Schools by the end of this Parliament. This will include new specialist maths Free Schools for 16-18 year olds, supported by strong university maths departments and academics.

It will also invest an additional £600m to support those local authorities with the greatest demographic pressures. This funding is expected to deliver up to an additional 40,000 school places.

Youth Contract

The Government is introducing a new 'Youth Contract', worth a total of £940m over the Spending Review 2010 period.

The Government will fund wage incentives for 160,000 young people to make it easier for private sector employers to take them on. In addition it will fund at least 40,000 incentive payments for small firms to take on young apprentices, and extra support from Jobcentre Plus for unemployed 18-24 year olds.

An offer of a work experience or Sector Based Work Academy place will be made to every unemployed 18-24 year old who wants one after three months on Jobseeker's Allowance, together with a new £50m a year programme to support some of the most disadvantaged 16-17 year olds into education, an apprenticeship or a job with training.