Call to extend internship scheme

20 February 2011 Last updated at 00:57 GMT Small businesses have hailed the graduate internship scheme as a huge success Small businesses are calling on ministers to extend a graduate paid internship scheme in England following the rise in youth unemployment.

The Federation of Small Businesses said the costs of the programme would be outweighed by the benefits of less benefit payments and more tax revenue.

The scheme, which is part-funded by the government, is set to end next month.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said no final decision had been made on its future.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the scheme had supported 8,500 paid internships since it was launched in February 2010.

A further 5,000 internship placements would cost the government about £8m.

'Future of economy'

FSB chairman John Walker said: "The current graduate internship scheme has proved highly successful, with some interns going on to start their own companies and others being offered full-time positions with the business they interned for.

"The investment needed to keep the scheme going would be more than outweighed by the contribution that the Treasury would see in reduced benefits payments and the increased tax take from those that gain employment as a result of the internship."

He added: "The UK's young people are the future of the economy, yet we are seeing youth unemployment approaching one million.

"It is time that the government invested into this vital sector so that we don't see a generation of youngsters consigned to the dole queue."

Last week, figures from the the Office for National Statistics showed UK unemployment rose by 44,000 to almost 2.5 million in the three months to the end of December. The data indicated youth unemployment rose to a fresh record high, with more than one in five 16 to 24-year-olds out of work after a rise of 66,000 to 965,000.

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Lottery scheme brings films to rural communities

Alex North of White Horse Pictures with councillor John Lawton at Malmesbury town hall, where a mobile cinema is bringing multiplex technology to rural areas. Photograph: Sam Frost for the Guardian

The venue could hardly be less like a multiplex: a small town hall dating back to the 19th century, rather than a vast building on an anonymous leisure park.

What Malmesbury town hall in Wiltshire and the nearest multiplex do now have in common, thanks to a National Lottery-funded pilot scheme, is the ability to show the latest releases in a cinema-style digital format with booming surround sound.

Across the country, there has been a huge increase in the number of village and town halls putting on screenings, but they usually have to wait for the DVD release of a film.

At Malmesbury town hall, and other small venues in Wiltshire and Hampshire, the White Horse Pictures project is using state-of-the-art digital equipment to draw in audiences with the latest releases.

"It's gone down incredibly well," said Malmesbury town councillor John Lawton.

"People are coming expecting a low-quality, grainy kind of picture and are quite astonished to get a perfect picture on a large screen with surround sound."

Ticket sales went well for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and for the George Clooney film The American and all 500 tickets for the run of The King's Speech have been sold.

Black Swan, the 50th anniversary revival of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Burlesque will also be screened and the town hall is hoping to be able to show 3-D films before the end of the year.

"People are really pleased they don't have to travel into Swindon or Bristol to see these films at the multiplexes," said Lawton. "We could have sold double the number of tickets we had for The King's Speech, which isn't bad for a town of 3,500 or 4,000 people."

Nursery nurse Anne Gould, a cinemagoer and volunteer, said: "You get all ages there from youngsters, who don't have to rely on their parents to take them to Swindon, to older people without transport who would have to try to get a bus to the cinema. It's wonderful to see these films sitting alongside your neighbours."

The official launch of the project took place on Friday night, with Oscar-winning film-maker Julian Fellowes as guest of honour to introduce a screening of his film From Time to Time, a ghost story starring Maggie Smith.

Fellowes, a champion of rural cinema projects, said some mobile cinemas suffered from poor projection: "Here people are getting clear and brilliant sound and vision without having to slog off to some huge multiplex.

"This sort of venue also provides a very friendly ambience. It's lovely to see a film in the local community where you are among friends."

White Horse Pictures is one of three rural projects