Nick Clegg launches £50m youth jobs programme in Birmingham

The Liberal Democrat leader was meeting young apprentices in Birmingham.

The fund will be shared by Birmingham and parts of Staffordshire. But the Black Country is set to miss out on the money which has been split between local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) for major cities.

It will see £4m given to the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area, which includes parts of Staffordshire such as Cannock Chase and Lichfield as well as Wyre Forest in Worcestershire.

The rest goes to cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and the west of England. It will be invested over the next three years, with the Government aiming to help more than 25,000 young people into jobs.

LEPs were set up by the coalition to replace the multi-million pound regional development agencies such as Advantage West Midlands. They comprise business and council leaders.

Staffordshire and the Black Country each have their own LEPs but are not among those allocated the funding today.

Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Wyre Forest councils each decided to join with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP.

House of Commons Library research, updated yesterday, states that 965,000 young people aged 16 to 24 were unemployed between July and September – down 9,000 on the previous quarter but at a similar level to the previous year.

It also shows the unemployment rate for the age group was 21 per cent in the three-month period, down 0.4 percentage points compared with the previous quarter but 0.3 percentage points higher than a year ago.

The Government adds that more than 136,000 young people have started a work experience placement through the Youth Contract since April 2012.

Mr Clegg said: "This is a multimillion-pound cash boost for the future prosperity of our young workforce. Investment like this, paired with a determination to tackle youth unemployment by our great cities, has the genuine power to change the fortunes of young people across the region."