Regional Director to speak at Confederation of British Industry

Date: 23 November 2009

The success of a project to get Cornish people back to work is to be highlighted at a national briefing in December.

 

Working Links’ Regional Director for the South West is to speak at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in London on Thursday 3 December.

 

Frances Brennan will be speaking at the launch of a new report, which details the company’s successful Cornwall Works Plus programme – co-funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

 

The report, Promoting diversity: The power of procurement, showcases partnerships between CBI members and the public sector to promote diversity and tackle inequality.

 

Frances said, “We engage with a diverse group of jobseekers but diversity is much more than just ethnicity, sex or religion. We work with public, private and voluntary organisations to tailor our support to the needs of jobseekers in the region, ensuring they get the help that’s right for them.

 

“This tailored approach to helping people overcome their barriers to work has proved extremely successful with Working Links exceeding all targets set.”

 

The programme aims to help over 16s living in Cornwall who are unemployed and/or facing redundancy. It has helped a record number of people into work in the Cornwall area during October 2009 – placing 113 people into work. This brings the total number of people helped into work through this programme to 879.

 

The report highlights that: “Working Links has built on its strong links within local community groups to deliver a level of diversity above the terms of its contract.

 

“It has engaged strongly with local groups and other delivery partners such as the Citizens Advice Bureau to provide support to jobseekers that is highly tuned according to individual need.”

 

Other groups Working Links works with include Penwith Community Development Trust, Pentreath, Lizard Pathways, CPR Regeneration, Cornwall Neighbourhood for Change, Local Opportunities Partnerships, Shelter, Cornwall Centre for Volunteers and Cornwall Wheels to Work.