Council meets Prime Minister to seek assistance in tackling deprivation
North Ayrshire Council Leader David O'Neill and Chief Executive Elma Murray have met with Prime Minister David Cameron in a bid to ensure that the area is at the forefront of any new employment initiatives.
The meeting, which was held following Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons on Wednesday, 12 January, follows the submission of a Business Case for Change which calls for extra assistance from both the UK and Scottish Governments in light of worsening levels of deprivation and high unemployment in North Ayrshire.
Councillor O'Neill and Ms Murray, who were supported by MP for Central Ayrshire Brain Donohoe, told the Prime Minister that North Ayrshire's historic deprivation and shortage of jobs had meant that the hard work being carried out by the Council and its Community Planning Partners was not having the necessary impact and that external assistance was urgently required.
Councillor O'Neill said: "We are very proactive in our approach to tackling the problems of deprivation, poverty and unemployment in the area. However, there is a historic problem here which necessitates extra assistance from outwith the area.
"The scale, depth and multi-generational nature of our poverty and deprivation indicate that, despite our efforts and prioritisation of resources, the area requires significant external assistance to halt and reverse its decline."
North Ayrshire suffered the loss of around 13,000 jobs at ICI at Ardeer and the closure of the steel works at Glengarnock.
In order to simply achieve parity with the average number of jobs available in each Scottish local authority, North Ayrshire would require an additional 19,000 positions. North Ayrshire sits at the top of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, with one in four people living in a deprived area and one in five children living in a workless household.
Despite these statistics, North Ayrshire Council has worked hard to address the problems it faces, introducing a range of innovative and proactive programmes. However, the lack of available jobs has meant that the problem has continued to worsen, with almost 12 percent of 18 – 24-year-olds in the area claiming Job Seeker's Allowance.
North Ayrshire also has 12 percent of its economically active population out of work, compared to 7.7 percent across Scotland as a whole.
The Council has asked for North Ayrshire to be considered as a priority when any new employability or worklessness projects are being piloted.
Among the projects suggested by the Council Leader and Chief Executive are Service Academies to provide young people with pre-employment training and placements in the Tourism, Hospitality and Renewable Energy sectors.
Councillor O'Neill added: "At our meeting today, we outlined the extent of the area's problems to the Prime Minister David Cameron and made a direct appeal to him for extra Government assistance.
"Mr Cameron has agreed to consider our requests and will look at ways in which the UK Government can support our long-term efforts to tackle the serious unemployment, poverty and deprivation that has existed in North Ayrshire for generations.
"He has also indicated that he will speak to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, about the possibility of establishing a pilot scheme to tackle worklessness in Scotland."
See the interview on STV I Player