The government’s rollout of next-generation broadband is steaming ahead with around £1.1 billion in contracts now signed to connect 677,000 rural homes and businesses across England.

Six new contracts worth more than £450 million were announced on the 6th February, allowing suppliers to immediately begin detailed surveying work to connect around 236,000 premises across England, with the first premises expected to be connected in early 2025.

The upgrades will help grow the economy, create jobs and deliver long-term change for a brighter future by making it easier to set up a business, and giving rural communities access to networks designed to meet people’s needs for decades to come as the demand for fast connections continue to rise.

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Young people in villages, towns and cities across England are set to benefit from 140 new or refurbished youth centres thanks to the largest funding round to date from the Government’s Youth Investment Fund. 

Totalling more than £90 million, funding announced on the 3rd February will support nearly 20,000 more young people per year to access new state of the art facilities such as workshop spaces, sports halls, art rooms, recording studios and skateparks.

Activities ranging from dance, drama and music to sport, horticulture and employment skills development will be on offer, giving young people access to opportunities that broaden their horizons.

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Employment rates in constituencies which are predominantly rural and inland were highest in October 2022 to September 2023, at 78.2%. 

Economic inactivity (people not in work and not looking for work) was highest in rural and coastal constituencies (21.9%) in October 2022 to September 2023. Rural inland constituencies had the lowest economic inactivity rate (19.6%).

The Government’s Levelling Up the United Kingdom white paper states seaside towns are among those areas with the “highest levels of community need and poor opportunities for the people who grow up there”, while rural areas can be low in “connectivity, skills and productive capital”.

In September 2022, the Rural England Prosperity Fund was launched and designed to fund capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure, with the aim of improving productivity and strengthening the rural economy.

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The Institute for Employment Studies published this briefing note, on Wednesday 31 January 2024, and it sets out analysis of the current Labour Market Statistics.

Although there remains significant uncertainty around labour data, figures show the labour market continuing to cool down, with vacancies falling by a further 50 thousand on the quarter (to 935 thousand) and earnings growth dipping below 6%.

However, they also show an unexpected slight improvement in the estimated employment rate, driven by falling ‘economic inactivity’.

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In partnership with the Learning and Work Institute, the new report launched by the St Martin’s Group examines what apprenticeship success looks like to employers and builds on previous research into the apprentice perspective of completion and outcomes.

The new report finds that while 99% of employers recognise the benefits of offering apprenticeships, they face barriers in supporting the apprentice to successfully complete.

The report offers a series of recommendations to improve outcomes, including supporting more employers to provide off-the-job training and pastoral support, which the research indicates lead to higher completion rates.

Read more here.

Government launches new Whatsapp Channel to provide helpful opt-in information to the public.

It will allow members of the public to subscribe to receive important updates to their phones.

The Government will also use the channel to share trusted and essential information from partner organisations like UK Health Security and Public Health England health alerts.

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This briefing covers Government policy on Children and young people’s mental health services (CYPMHS) from 2011 to present.

It looks at how children and young people’s mental health services in England work and sets out relevant Government policy and statistics.

In 2023, 20% of children aged 8 to 16 had a probable mental disorder.

Among young people aged 17 to 19, the rates of probable mental disorder increased from 10% in 2017 to 18% in 2020 (a statistically significant increase).

Between 2020 and 2021 the rates remained similar before increasing again between 2021 and 2022, from 17% to 26%. In 2023, rates remained fairly stable at 23%.

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Council chiefs are using £440,000 to drive down the soaring number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in Wigan following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This forms part of the town’s ‘employment and skills strategy’ with town hall bosses aiming to help residents, partners, employers and training providers bridge skills gaps and identify where future job opportunities are likely to be.

The cash has been given to Wigan from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund via the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to tackle the issue. This initiative started in October 2023 and will run until March 2025, and is expected to build on the prior success of the European Social Fund NEET programme ‘Connect to your Future’ which ended in September 2023. Coun Jeanette Prescott told the committee apprenticeships and schemes to get young people into employment are preventing them from ‘turning to crime or drug use’.

The report says that the three groups most likely to be NEET are young people with experience of the care system, the youth justice system and those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

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27 million people across the UK will benefit from a yearly tax cut worth hundreds of pounds from 6 January 2024.

This will mean that a household with two average earners will save nearly £1,000 per year.

In the past year, inflation has halved; the economy has recovered more quickly from the pandemic than first thought; and debt is on track to fall. With a renewed focus on the long-term decisions to strengthen the economy, the government is changing gear and cutting taxes for hard working people, giving them the opportunity to build a wealthier, more secure life for themselves and their families.

Read more here.