Fighting the recession in Wiltshire

10.05.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 26th Jun 2009

Wiltshire Council has agreed a package of measures aimed at helping the county weather the storm of the economic depression.

The Citizens Advice Bureau will get funding of up to £288,000 to help it deal with the extra workload it's experiencing. The CAB has had a 40% increase in enquiries from the public over the last year, with debt, employment, benefits and housing being the main problem areas.

The effects of the recession are shown in Wiltshire's unemployment figures - the number of people on Job Seeker's Allowance has risen from 2,890 in June 08 to 5,250 in January 09.

The number of mortgage repossessions has also risen, especially in West Wiltshire.

Business Link will get £50,000 to fund an emergency business support service to help small businesses in difficulty to survive, and the council will look at ways of helping people wanting to take on apprenticeships (see below)

Comment - I welcome these measures which should help some individuals and small businesses in these difficult times. We will though need to keep an eye on the results to see if this is enough or if we need to do more.

I'm concerned though about the recommendation on apprenticeships. The exact wording of this reads: "That a further progress report including a proposal to provide increased capacity to manage apprenticeship opportunities is submitted to a cabinet meeting at the earliest opportunity." This is very weasly wording and doesn't give any confidence that action will be taken - the problem exists now and isn't helped by hints of possible activity in the long term.