Apprenticeships On The Increase In City

Apprenticeships in Cambridge are on the increase with 2,190* people joining a training programme between August 2011 and January 2012.

This new figure comes on top of record numbers of apprentices in the city last year – 1,630 apprentices were on a training programme in 2011/12 an increase of 53 per cent on the previous year.

The news has been welcomed by Cambridge MP Julian Huppert who says the programmes are vital if people are to be given the chance of full-time employment.

“Apprenticeships are extremely valuable in teaching our people the skills which employers are looking for in new recruits,” said Julian. “By working closely with education providers such as Cambridge Regional College, employers can help to train people to make a much-needed contribution to the workplace.

“In return, employers have people who are trained from the very beginning to meet their specific requirements and who can help to grow their businesses.”

Through the government’s Regional Growth Fund the Eastern region and the South East have benefited from a £92 million investment creating a total of 10,214 jobs.

“For this region to continue to be successful, people need the skills and experience to take advantage of new jobs being created in the area,” added Julian. “Apprenticeships offer these skills while at the same time helping companies to be more productive.”

To support more employers, especially small businesses, to take on apprentices, the Coalition Government has taken a number of measures: a) Offering employers with up to 50 employees an incentive payment of £1,500 to take on apprentices aged 16-24. This will encourage small employers to take on up to 20,000 apprentices, b) Streamlining processes so that it takes just a month for an employer to advertise for an apprentice, and c) Ensuring that the National Apprenticeship Service better supports the needs of small employers – through more effectively targeted advice and guidance and helping training providers work more effectively with local SMEs.

*- Figures for the period August 2011 – January 2012 are based on data from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and are provisional and provide an early view of the number of apprentices for the academic year 2011/12.

What Have The Liberal Democrats Achieved In Government?

Julian Huppert MP: Response to Yesterdays Budget

Cambridge Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert has posted his response to yesterdays Coalition budget announcement via the Cambridge City Liberal Democrat Activists mailing list (in response to a request from Cllr Sarah Whitebread);


"Hi all,


I'm still, like you, trying to digest all the details of the budget.


But I thought I'd write to you with some of the key issues, and my thoughts on it. I've seen Sarah W's email, and I know I'll miss out many details - ask me and I'll do my best to answer them.


I think it's fairly clear which bits of the budget were Lib Dem, and which were Tory.


Our key priority was to increase the threshold at which people start to pay income tax. This was our key policy at the General Election, and we agreed in the coalition agreement to prioritise it as well. Our aim was to lift the threshold to £10,000 by 2015.


The announcement was that it has been lifted to £9,205 - very close to the £10,000 objective, after less than 2 years. This will result in 2 million poorly paid people being lifted out of tax compared to 2010, and cuts for 28 million people, amounting to £546/year for most basic-rate payers, and less for higher-rate earners.


We should be very proud of that achievement, and remember to tell people about it!


For someone who works full-time on the National Minimum Wage, we will have halved their tax bill. I hope we can go further in the next years - I think that no-one earning the minimum wage should pay any income tax at all!


The Tory priority - obsession even - was the 50p tax rate, which is to be cut to 45%. This is not where we would have chosen to focus, but we insisted on countervailing measures to tax high earners - stamp duty on houses over 2 million, reducing tax relief amounts for high earners, and a few other points. These are estimated to raise 5 times as much as the lost income from the tax rate change - so high earners will be paying more (1.3k/year on average, according to the best estimates).


It's also worth remembering that the top rate was 40% for all but 35 days of the Labour Government, and this is still higher than that.


There was also good news for pensions - they are going up by 5.2%, and Steve Webb's Citizen's Pension idea is going ahead, with the State Pension moving from a base £97.50/week, plus extra for some, to a minimum of £140/week for all. There is no change to the income tax threshold for pensioners, who will continue to not pay anything on the first £10,500 (£10,600 for those born before 1938).


There are lots of other details as well - some that should be very good for Cambridge, such as tax credits for video games, assistance for university spin-outs and entrepreneurs, extra money for research infrastructure and 50M for super-broadband in smaller Cities, some of which we will get. And much, much more.


It's not the budget we'd have written ourselves. But it is good for low-earners, and it takes more money from the richest.


Best,


Julian
---
Dr Julian Huppert MP
Member of Parliament for Cambridge
Liberal Democrat
http://www.julianhuppert.org.uk"

Pupil Premium Estimates for King's Hedges

One of the clearest examples of Liberal Democrats having a positive effect in government as part of the coalition has been the introduction of the Pupil Premium.

According to just published figures the three schools in King's Hedges are estimated to benefit by the following amounts;

That's a staggering £46,440 for the Manor, £51,600 for King's Hedges Primary School, and £24,940 for the Grove - over £120,000 in total for raising the aspirations and attainment of those who are disadvantaged in our community.

LibDems in government: 880,000 people out of income tax

One example of the influence of the Liberal Democrats on the coalition was recently pointed out to me. The first step on the way to the Liberal Democrat policy of lifting the income tax threshold to £10,000 was announced in the emergency budget. This first step increased the tax allowance by £1000 to £7475.

Despite the tight budget constraints left by Labour this first step will lift 880,000 out of paying income tax. It also is a step towards breaking the situation where some people end up worse off if they start work than if they stay on benefits.

The tax cut in the Conservative manifesto was an inheritance tax break for millionaires. The Liberal Democrats have made a real difference here.