Panorama

Gravy Training (1994x12)

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Government schemes to train the long-term unemployed sound like a good idea but this investigation reveals they are often very expensive, ineffective and merely a way to massage the unemployment figures. "People on government training schemes not only come off the unemployment register, but they are also included as people at work. So, the government gets a double effect," explains Dan Finn of the independent research body the Unemployment Unit. But the government is also being swindled out of millions of pounds. One former manager of a training company reveals that the schemes were primarily tailored to make her company a fat profit while an unemployed man tells how his "training" consisted of weeding railway tracks all day.