01 August 2007 - New Employability Skills programme to help people back into work
A new programme to help people improve their skills, find a job and progress at work; improving life chances for individuals and their families; and contributing to both a reduction in child poverty and increased social mobility, is being launched by Minister for Employment Caroline Flint and Minister for Skills David Lammy today.
The Employability Skills programme is an initiative jointly developed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).
This programme has been developed especially to meet the needs of Jobcentre Plus customers and includes a provision leading to an Employability Award that is based on the skills, behaviours and attitudes that employers want to see in someone they recruit.
Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform, Caroline Flint, said:
“Our recent Green Paper In Work, Better Off set out the next steps for reaching full employment. To achieve this we need Jobcentre Plus customers to have access to the right skills training to fill over 640,000 vacancies across the country.
“The employability skills programme will ensure training where necessary in numeracy, literacy and language skills to help them find a job and then further training to help keep people in employment once they are working.”
Minister for Skills, David Lammy, said:
"It is important that low-skilled unemployed people have access to flexible training which gives them the skills that employers value, to help them get jobs and progress in work. The Employability Skills programme will provide this access and will be hugely important for people trapped by a lack of skills between dead-end jobs and periods of unemployment. By assessing people's needs based on their skills levels they can be given structured learning programmes tailored to their needs that help them secure sustainable employment."
A lack of skills can mean some people experience cycling between low-skilled jobs and periods of unemployment. The Government has recognised the significance of addressing people’s skills needs in the recent publication of the papers World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England and In Work, Better Off: Next Steps to Full Employment. It is important that low-skilled unemployed people have access to flexible training which gives them the skills that employers value, to help them get a job and progress in work. The Employability Skills programme will provide this.
The Employability Skills programme offers a package of learning leading to both basic skills and employability qualifications. The programme aims to help Jobcentre Plus customers:
- Enhance their employability skills
- Improve their literacy, language and numeracy skills
- Secure and sustain employment
- Ensure that their learning journey continues and is supported once they gain employment.
Notes to editors
- World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England was published on 18th July 2007 by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It can be found at: http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/publications-leitchreview.htm
- In Work, Better Off: Next Steps to Full Employment was published by the Department for Work and Pensions on 18 July 200. It can be found at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/in-work-better-off/
DWP Press Office: 0203 267 5129
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk
DIUS Press Office 020 7215 2566
Website www.dius.gov.uk