In a week immersed in the budget arguments and then the Chancellors’ debate I have been reminded of what the big picture means locally.
I spoke on Friday to a packed meeting of anxious tertiary college staff who face 70 or 80 redundancies with potentially more to follow. I was also asked to address 500 building contractors at the RFU. The feedback I received was of the serious, continued, problems in a depressed construction industry and the squeeze on credit which companies face from the banks.
I also had an opportunity to speak to the scientists in the National Physical Laboratory who have faced one wave of redundancies and are expecting other cuts.
This will be the trend of the next few years: cuts in public spending finding their way into job cuts directly or (as in the construction industry) indirectly. Whether this is called “efficiency” or “productivity” is not the issue; I think most people prefer candour over cuts. What I am trying to do is to identify cuts which reflect real priorities rather than indiscriminate cuts.
If we were serious about identifying priorities we would not be starting with cutting people who help create the country’s future science base or the college teachers who train teenagers for work or university entrance.
I also saw a very good example of how the local community is coping with unexpected unemployment. The Adult College has launched an internship programme providing training and work experience for jobless residents who work there on a voluntary basis. I was greatly impressed by the impact it had on the confidence of those taking part.
Creative solutions to unemployment will be badly needed in future.
