PM sets out training benefit plan

Mr Brown says there will be a huge rise in skilled jobs around the world

Gordon Brown has set out plans to give extra benefits to members of poor families who agree to return to work and sign up to skills training courses.

The proposals are based on a US system where some families receive more than £1,000 a year for up to three years.

In a speech at the Welsh Labour Party conference, the prime minister acknowledged people from disadvantaged backgrounds faced difficulties.

But they must take up the opportunities available to them, Mr Brown added.

'Greatest opportunity'

The prime minister said he proposed new "contracts out of poverty" for individual families to escape the "daily injustices of poverty".

He told the conference in Llandudno: "In the coming decades the number of the world's skilled jobs will double.

"It creates the greatest opportunity for whichever country rises to the education and skills challenge. I want that country to be Britain.

"Unlocking not just some of the talent of the British people, but all of the talent of our people."

Extra payments

Employment Minister Stephen Timms will travel to New York to see if parts of the scheme, called Opportunity NYC, can be imported to the UK.

The programme gives money to people in poor inner-city areas in return for them staying in work or enrolling in training.

Extra payments are added if parents agree, for example, to oversee the behaviour of wayward children, or even to stop smoking or improve their diet if there are health concerns.

The government is expected to announce a series of pilot schemes, concentrating initially on the employment and training sections of the US experiment.

Unproven scheme

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling said Mr Brown was "chasing headlines" after warning last month of benefits cuts for those who refused training.

"Last month Gordon Brown wanted contracts and benefit cuts for those who refuse training," he said.

"This month he says he wants contracts and benefit increases for those who accept training.

"Once again he's chasing headlines by latching on to a scheme in New York that has only just started, and no one yet knows if it works."

The Tories have pledged to adopt a New York "workfare" scheme which forces the long-term unemployed to do community work for their benefits.