At the County Council meeting held on Tuesday 11th December, Cllr. Zoé Patrick, Leader of the Opposition, brought forward a motion calling for the Chief Executive and Cabinet to examine the feasibility of extending the concessionary travel scheme to include 18 – 24 year olds in receipt of Job Seekers’ Allowance or undertaking apprenticeships. This was recognising the fact that young unemployed young people are particularly disadvantaged by the current economic situation and they deserve extra support to move onto the first steps of permanent employment.

This move was also in support of the £1 billion Youth Contract scheme launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg of the Coalition government as a result of Liberal Democrat intervention which opens up various opportunities for young people, including giving incentives to employers to take them on for work.

The costings for the scheme are estimated to be around £563K, but would benefit around 1,500 young people. However, the feasibility study could have explored other options including partnership working with other initiatives, for example the Local Enterprise Partnership to help support the scheme.

When put to the vote, the motion was lost.