LOCAL bosses have been challenged to back the Government's Welfare to work initiative.

Money raised by a windfall tax on privatised utilities will be used to help young people between 18 and 24 who have been unemployed for more than six months.

Options will include a job with an employer who will be offered £60 per week for six months to take them on.

A number of local organisations will be involved when the scheme , organised by the employment Service, starts in Bolton and Bury next April.

One of the major local players in the initiative will be Bolton Bury Training and Enterprise Council, which held its annual meeting at Bury College this week.

Chief executive Richard Bindless said: "We are pleased to work alongside the Employment Service and other partners to make sure that 700 to 800 youngsters in Bolton and Bury move from unemployment and despair to employment and aspiration for the future."

The TEC has put a secondee at the disposal of the Employment Service and provided a substantial development fund.

"I have the commitment of my board and particularly my chairman to eradicate the blight of youth unemployment," he said.

But Mr Bindless said: "This is a difficult ambition to achieve. We have got to engage employers more than anyone else."

Mr Bindless said the application for the proposed merger between BBTEC and Bolton and Bury Chamber of Commerce would be made to the Government shortly and they were hoping for a "positive" result around Christmas.

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