WIREDGOV

Counsel General and Brexit Minister Jeremy Miles has welcomed substantial new EU funding to extend a scheme boosting the prospects of thousands of young people across south west Wales.

The Cynnydd project, which is led by Pembrokeshire County Council, and also operates across Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, has been awarded an additional £11.5 million from the European Social Fund.

The project works with Careers Wales, FE colleges and private and third sector companies, to help young people into work via training and work experience opportunities, while providing one-to-one mentoring, coaching and counselling to improve life skills and self-esteem.

Jeremy Miles yesterday announced that Cynnydd, which was launched in September 2016, will now run until December 2022 thanks to the extra EU funding. This means a further 3,200 young people will benefit from support and opportunities created by the project over the next three years, and 7,500 in total.

Jeremy Miles yesterday said:

“We’ve already seen how successful Cynnydd has been in working with young people in the area to remove some of the barriers to them completing education and training programmes which can contribute to the reduction in young people in Wales who are NEET. This is so important, not only to the local economy, but to the sustainability of our communities, especially in parts of rural Wales.

“Wales is still benefiting substantially from EU funds and I’m delighted this investment will be supporting the futures of so many young people in South West Wales.”

Cllr David Lloyd, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, yesterday said he was delighted to welcome the additional funding:

“We’re passionate about continuing our hard work towards the elimination of NEETS. No-one should leave school with nowhere to go.”

In the last decade, EU-funded projects have created 45,000 new jobs and 13,000 new businesses across Wales, while also helping more than 85,000 people into employment.