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The scrapping of Wave 6 of Liverpool's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme will cost the city 350 apprenticeships within the construction industry.
A report submitted to the city council's employment and skills select committee reveals that the decision to abandon the £350 million schools rebuilding scheme means plans to create the apprenticeships within the construction and sub-contractor supply chain will no longer go ahead.
The report says that the loss of the apprenticeships, which would have given employment opportunities to hundreds of young people throughout the city, is part of a wider impact the loss of BSF is having on Liverpool's construction industry.
An estimated 1,000 full time equivalent construction jobs which would have been created in the design, construction and maintenance of the schools have been lost. More than 300 full time equivalent posts to deliver the scheme, through the creation of a Local Education Partnership (LEP) will also now not happen,
And it is estimated that, with much of the construction work undertaken on a short term and long term basis, up to 13,000 job opportunities could be lost, 25 per cent of which could have been taken up by local individuals and businesses.
Cabinet Member for Employment and Skills, Councillor Nick Small, said: "These figures show what a major blow scrapping the Building Schools for the Future programme is to employment in this city, particularly in the construction sector.
"With The Liverpool Apprentice initiative we are trying to ensure that apprenticeships continue to be created, but decisions such as this make it more difficult for young people, in particular, to get into employment."
Council officials estimate that every £1 that would have been spent on the scheme would have been worth £2.84 to the local economy in terms of construction.
In addition to the £350 million capital cost of the scheme, a further £50 million of ICT investment and £10.5 million of cleaning and maintenance management contracts will also be lost - bringing the total amount of finance lost to £410.5 million.
(CD)
