£4.8m bill for graduate jobs 'failure'

Taxpayers spent almost £5 million on a project to help find graduates a job - from which only one in five actually found work.

The scheme by the regional development agency Advantage West Midlands was today branded a waste of money.

Figures obtained today showed 1,615 graduates have taken part in Graduate Advantage since 2003, but only 319 full-time posts have been created as a result.

AWM, whose future is currently in doubt, has paid £506,394 into the scheme over the past year and spent £4.8 million of public money in total. It paid companies to take on graduates for a period of work experience.

The figures were obtained after a Freedom of Information Act request was made to the quango but AWM insisted today that any spending of public money is "rigorously assessed".

Director of skills Pat Jackson said: "Projects like Graduate Advantage help the region attract, nurture and retain graduate talent in particular areas and highlight the benefits of higher level skills to businesses.

"This is vital if we are to boost the region's skills to compete in a global, 21st century market on the business front, particularly with manufacturing and technology.

"The scheme placed more than 500 graduates between July 2009 and April 2010, making them more employable by offering them experience, and giving businesses a helping hand during the recession."

But the West Midlands TaxPayers' Alliance dismissed the project as a waste.

Fiona McEvoy, of the Alliance, said: "Over the years expensive publicly-funded projects like this have pushed taxes up for businesses who might otherwise have had the reserves to recruit new graduates without such help.

"While it is important young people find work in the marketplace, there are pressures on public finances that mean taxpayers simply can't afford to lay out so much money for so few successes."

By Daniel Wainwright