Yesterday evening I took time out to hear what the Council is doing to tackle the problem of the large number of young people who are not in education, employment or training here in Reading.
So-called NEETs.
This is an awful, dehumanising term for what is essentially not a new phenomenon.
And we're talking about a whole generation of young people who have not benefitted from Blair or Brown.
A few years ago (when Tony Blair took office) it was simply called social exclusion.
This was designated a priority by Blair and a social exclusion unit was duly set up and then later disbanded.
I raised the difficulties facing young people in this age group at our recent party conference and am pleased to see the Lib Dems nationally campaigning for more to be done to help young people achieve their potential.
To my mind, it is one of the clearest examples of where Labour has failed to deliver in reducing inequality in this country.
And the impact of this failure is felt by thousands of families and individuals here in Reading.
Reading has a high-number of NEETs - around 8% of the current population of 16-19 year olds. That's well above the national average.
Fewer young people stay in education beyond 16 in Reading compared to other similar areas of the country.
It is is a town of sharp contrasts where some of the top performing grammar and private schools exist alongside schools where improving educational standards and pupils' records of achievement has been a long slow road.
But the high number of our young people effectively 'dropping out' between 16-19 is a symptom of a much wider issue than simply the need to improve access to good quality education and jobs (although both of these things must happen).
The real problems go far deeper, as the latest version of the Council's Children & Young People's Plan (2009-12) sets out:
"Social disadvantage and poverty in Reading are above the national average - in 2007, the borough was ranked 151st out of 354 authorities on the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.However, of the 93 Lower Super Output Areas (census areas) within Reading, 11 of these are in the top 20% most deprived in the country."
Speaking to the RBC officer responsible for co-ordinating yesterday I was very impressed by what I heard. The Council is taking a lead with other bodies such as Connexions Berkshire in identifying youngsters who have left school and need support. Real effort is made to make sure all young people are accounted for and contact is made with them.
There are regular interventions to try and encourage young people to go to college or begin an apprenticeship, with mentoring available for youngsters who need intensive support.
The Council has also made creating local apprenticeships a priority and is actively trying to persuade employers to take on young people as apprentices.
However, despite the Council's best efforts (and the fact that reducing NEETs is a top priority of the Local Strategic Partnership and the Children's Trust ), significantly reducing the overall number of NEET in Reading is proving an uphill struggle.
Why is this?
Well, first of all while all this effort has been going on locally the wider economic picture has worsened, undoing some of the best efforts of the people working in this area.
As I highlighted in the Summer, the number of young people unemployed claiming Job Seekers Allowance in the Reading area has dramatically increased and the number of jobs vacancies has plummeted.
Young people with low skills who want to work are finding themselves in an increasingly desperate scramble for jobs up against well- qualified graduates. It's not surprising they start to lose heart and give up feeling 'the system' and society is against them.
And as I have pointed out before the government help for councils like the Future Jobs Fund is a drop in the ocean compared to what's actually needed here in Reading.
Secondly,there are some deep-seated reasons why the number of NEETs in Reading is so high, linked to pockets of significant deprivation which exist in the town. Where for examples families where for generations children have not gone to college or university and families where at least one parent has never been in full-time employment.
An example was given of a young woman the first in three generations to go to college.
What you might expect in a developing country. But this is not the third world. This is Reading.
And this is about poverty and the impact living in poverty is having on generations of young people.
And however Labour politicians nationally or locally care to dress it up deprivation has become more rather than less ingrained in many parts of Reading after 12 years of a Labour government and even longer of local Labour in power in Reading.
If you need further convincing that NEET statistics are an indicator of poverty, please see below.
The following wards in Reading currently have the highest number of NEETs (RBC stats, as of Dec 08)
Church: 15.2% (52)
Whitley: 13.% (41)
Kentwood: 10.3% (37)
Minster: 8.7% (32)
Compare this with the wards with the lowest percentage of NEET young people: Mapledurham (0.3), Thames (2.3) and Peppard (2.3).
The message behind these statistics is clear: where you are born in Reading has a serious impact on your life chances and if you live in South or West Reading the odds are likely to be stacked against you.
And let's face it no amount of strategies or action plans from RBC will put right this inequality - action at national level is needed and it could take years to put things right.
One Lib Dem policy that will help in this regard is our policy to take the lowest paid out of paying tax altogether.
Vince Cable has also said we would raise the income tax personal allowance to £10,000, cutting income tax bills by £700 a year for anyone earning over £10,000, and taking four million people out of income tax altogether.
The other is the 'pupil premium' - allowing us to invest in the education of the most disadvantaged children.
Nick Clegg is the only party leader who has said categorically that improving social mobility must be the top priority for any incoming government.
He set up the Social Mobility Commission the day after he was elected as party leader.
And I don't mean attacking 'chaotic families' as Gordon Brown did this week, for the state of Britain today. This sounded a lot like the Tories blaming family breakdown for 'broken Britain'.
Tweedledum and Tweedle Dee politics is not what's needed here.
Locally, I can't recall the Tories saying or doing anything about what they would do to tackle the shocking inequality that exists under their very noses.
The Labour and Conservative councillors who represent wards where youth unemployment is highest should be demanding action. The silence from them locally on these issues is deafening.
Local people in these wards should reject these two parties at the next election in favour of electing hard-working Lib Dems who will work hard for their communities and give them a voice.
We will continue to speak up for these young people, and all people abandoned and let down by this Labour government and the local Labour-run Council.
Two examples: I will be co-chairing a scrutiny review into children's health (and health inequality) later this month and attending the Council's forthcoming summit on supporting young people through the credit crunch.
I was instrumental in getting both these events into the Council's diary and on to the political agenda in Reading.
Because I think the situation facing many 16-19 year olds in Reading is seriously bad and warrants urgent action.
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