This morning I attended the Credit Crunch Summit organised by the Council, which focussed on help for small businesses.
I have to admit, I have been quite sceptical in the past about the value of these events although I haven't wanted to get into a political bunfight about it unlike some other local politicians as I don't think that was helpful.
Comments have been made in the press that Reading is well placed to weather the recession. My own view is that the recession is clearly impacting on different people and businesses in different ways and it is not helpful to over-simplify the picture or allow ourselves to lapse into complacency.
The main focus of my attention as councillor has naturally been on the impact of the credit crunch on housing in Reading, an area I will be revisiting with my scrutiny hat on in July.
I went to the event today with a fairly open mind, hoping to find out more about how Reading people are being affected and what more we might be able to do to help at a local level.
I feared there would be a lot of hot air from Labour councillors but it was refreshingly absent fro proceedings.
It was very interesting to hear at the event from two local businessmen who run small businesses in the Town Centre, including Adam Jacobs of family-run jewellers, Jacobs of Reading. I am a real fan of this shop as they managed to rescue a much-loved ring of mine which I had managed to damage while out on the campaign trail via a letterbox!
Adam talked candidly about his recent experience, including his encounter with the Chancellor, Alastair Darling, as part of his visit to Reading:part of his 'recession tour'. Charismatic was not the phrase I remember him using!
He said in his business that they were finding the impact of the recession to be 'unpredictable', with the number of customers rising and falling from month to month. This was making it very difficult for Adam to plan ahead.
He also explained how he and his staff had been forced to adapt to these changing times. I was very impressed to hear about how he had taken the opportunity to increase the skills base of his staff, helping to make their jobs hopefully more secure in these insecure times.
One worrying statistic that leapt of the page during an RBC presentation on 'key recession indicators' was the fact that the number of people claiming job-seekers allowance in Reading has increased 122% on the same time last year.
The Deputy Manager of Reading Citizens Advice Bureau talked about the fact that many job seekers that came through their doors had never been unemployed before and needed help finding out which benefits they were entitled to. She also said that more and more companies were getting rid of staff citing 'poor performance' when really when this was just used as an excuse to reduce the head count.
Conservative councillor Mark Ralph posed a thoughtful question about the value of the event: was it in fact beneficial to the business community at large?
Interestingly the feedback from the Reading Federation of Small Businesses, Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce and Reading Voluntary Action was that in fact they found opportunity to share information and discuss solutions was in fact very useful.
It's true to say, as Cllr Ralph pointed out, that the place was not teeming with business people - but as one speaker pointed out business people are busy enough trying to stay afloat: it is the job of these representative bodies to go on fact-finding missions and to feed the important stuff back to their members.
Leaving small businesses to one side for a second, I am very concerned about the impact that the recession is having on young people in Reading - particularly school-leavers (both with and without qualifications,) and college and university students graduating this year.
According to the latest figures the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training in Brtain increased from 9.7% at the end of 2007 to 10.3% at the end of 2008.
This has been put down to a massive increase in youth unemployment in recent months.
This is a real worry.
In Reading, the number of teenagers not in education, employment or training is already too high.The impact of the recession will only make things ten times worse for these young people and their families.
Last week the Guardian reported that at least 40,000 of all students graduating from universities this year are likely to be unemployed for at least six months:
"According to the Higher Education Careers Service Unit, up to 40,000 of this year's nearly 400,000 graduates will still be classed as jobseeking in six months' time – twice the rate recorded last year. They are part of the biggest cohort of graduates ever, and the first to have paid £3,000 top-up fees for every year they studied. They are the New Labour generation, the class of 2009: the most educated, the most indebted and potentially the least employed ever."
Today's students are already struggling to cope having been saddled with huge debt thanks to the failed policies of this Labour government. Many students completing three year courses will leave university in Reading this summer with debts averaging £20,000.
Things were difficult for students when I graduated a few years ago, but the idea of trying to find a job and get on the property ladder with the current expected level of debt is hard for any of us to contemplate.
Students that I know who have graduated from Reading University this year with excellent degrees who should have excellent prospects are feeling gloomy: I don't blame them. They worked hard and believed that there would be a job for them at the end of their university career. They have been badly let down by this Labour government.
Anyway, I suggested that a positive step for the Council to take might be for a future summit to be dedicated to the issue of helping young people weather the recession, focussing in particular on those groups I have already identified.
I would like to see young people and students invited to this event along with representatives from schools, universities and employers in the town. We must not turn our back on our young people in these difficult times.
I followed up my call later today with an email to the Leader of the Council who I hope will take this idea forward.
As Tim Smith, Executive Director of economic development agency Reading UK CIC said this is our responsibility if we are to be true community leaders.
UPDATE:
I have since heard from the Leader of the Council that my idea for a special summit on support for young people in the recession will now be taken forward (planned for the autumn), and in the meantime officers will be looking closely at what else can be done to help them find work.
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