Progress towards the creation of 10,000 new jobs for young people in the cultural and sports sectors has passed the half way mark, according to culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw.

Nine months after plans were first announced to fund employment for young people who might otherwise be unable to find work, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has secured funding for more than 6,500 posts - 4,200 in sport and the remainder in the cultural sector. /P>

Visiting Future Jobs Fund recruits in Leicester, Bradshaw said: "Jobs in the cultural and sports sectors can be hard to come by. It's often the case that the supply of potential employees outstrips demand, so it can be particularly hard for young people with little experience who are keen to take their first steps into the world of work. "We started with a target of between five and ten thousand new jobs in our sectors, and I am confident we will end up with a figure far higher than that."

Examples of successful bids include 30 new staff starting at Southbank Centre, London, in March; 56 jobs at Theatre Resource, an arts organisation based in Ongar, Essex; and 200 jobs across the West Midlands, co-ordinated by the Skills Partnership and working alongside teaching staff as school physical activity co-ordinators in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Solihull and Dudley. The Future Jobs Fund is a Department for Work and Pensions initiative that aims to create 170,000 new jobs for young people, 10,000 of which will be from DCMS sectors. Five thousand of these will be in the cultural sector and 5,000 in the sports sector.