Jobs schemes ‘destroyed '

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 10

Jobs schemes ‘destroyed '

BRENDON BURNS

political reporter

The Government was accused yesterday of allowing the destruction of the country’s best job training schemes, as the Opposition pressed home its claim that Access is in chaos.

During a debate in Parliament, the Opposition’s spokesman , on labour, Mr Bill Birch, said Regional Employment and Access Councils in Auckland and Wellington had axed a total of 1700 training places this year. These cuts had des-

troyed the best and long-est-serving job training schemes, run by such agencies as the Y.M.CA. and the Salvation Army, he told Parliament . "The Press” reported yesterday that a leaked Labour Department document had stated that there ’ were inherent weaknesses in the accountability and monitoring of R.E.A.Ca

These councils were now allocating millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to people of their own choice and not following Government policy, Mr Birch said.

The Government member of Parliament for Wellington Central, Ms FMn Wilde, said it was not true to say the best , schemes had.been axed. Some no longer in place had not been catering for trainees' needs or achieving the best results. - Mrs Jenny Shipley (Nat, Ashburton) said the Government had been deceiving or misleading people about Access. The Aorangi R.EA.C. had 504 training positions in May, but by August this had dropped to 410. “This is not good enough,” she said, With

unemployment riatafc.; Mr Rob Munro, (Nat, Invercargill) said he had going oft the unemptoyment benefit onto Access positions in Southland had not been getting paid. While a computer breakdown was to blame, people attempting to improve themselves should not be left without income, he said. The author of the leaked report on R.EA.C. accountability,. said yesterday that there was no suggestion hundreds of millions of dollars was

ity arrangements now in place may need some fine tuning. ' An . audit was ' already under way. he said. ' “I think in the main the RE-A.Cs are doing a fine ( job of getting to grips with £ the Access concept" ; Mr McKehrie said it was a new scheme with some •/ quite radical features, Including administration by communitybased bodies. —