Job summit deemed a success

Published 1 Mar 2010 17:23

Local Labour politicians have welcomed the initiative of the Scotland Office in organising last week's Ayrshire Jobs summit, held in Kilmarnock College . The event was attended by politicians from across Ayrshire, as well as a number of public agencies.

Speaking after the summit Cathy Jamieson said : "The Summit was a useful opportunity to look at how we can work together to create new jobs as well as protect existing jobs. There was agreement that we must do everything we can to create job opportunities for young people, and that the Future Jobs Fund is already a success. Participants put forward interesting ideas about how the private and voluntary sectors could be more involved in this. It was also agreed that we must not lose sight of the impact recent job losses have had on areas which already had a higher than average rate of unemployment.

"I have established a Cross Party Group on Industrial Communities in the Scottish Parliament, which is focussing on tackling this issue. I am pleased that Scotland Office Minister Ann McKechin was able to attend. She stayed to listen to the discussions as well as giving an excellent presentation. The involvement of the Council and Job Centre Plus was also very welcome, but I was disappointed that Scottish Enterprise did not feature. The Scottish Government has an important role in working with the UK Government and local authorities and must ensure that actions match words."

Des Browne MP said: "At last, we have had a Government-led initiative. Having waited for a full year for the SNP to fulfil their promise, Jim Murphy, the Secretary of State for Scotland , deserves our collective thanks for bringing this together to discuss the challenge that we face across Ayrshire.

"The collective will from Ayrshire politicians, the Public Sector and the business community was evident. This is just as well, because the SNP Government's development arm, Scottish Enterprise , made no contribution. We are on our own. Since they SNP abolished Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, I have feared that the Edinburgh Government don't care what happens to us here in Ayrshire. Their boycott of our jobs summit proves that I am right. This is just the beginning but, if we pull together in Ayrshire as we can, and build on our potential we can get through this."

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