News
11/12/06 CESW Helps Drove Local Employment Initiative
The conference was opened by Krystyna Blackburn of the Housing Forum (HF). She outlined the importance the HF attaches to Sustainable Training for Sustainable Communities, as well as the vital role played by clients and contractors working in partnership to generate local employment and training opportunities - both on new build and refurbishment projects.
Fusion 21 from Liverpool and OnSite Bristol provided numerous examples of the significant benefits that contractors operating in the Decent Homes Refurbishment Programme and other Housing Association frameworks can bring to maintaining employment and providing vital career opportunities to the communities they are working in.
The Liverpool experience demonstrated that clients have a key role in providing a suitable longer term workload and that mentors are essential, not only to help trainees make the transition from long term unemployment to work, but also to appreciate that reliability and commitment are essential to their employment prospects. To be successful, training had to meet very specific skills requirements - such as window or kitchen fixing for housing. For many this was a first step into work.
Guidance on sourcing local tradesmen and availability of apprenticeship schemes were also discussed, as was the important role played by CITB-ConstructionSkills.
John Rackstraw, Chairman of Constructing Excellence South West, closed the conference with a reminder that as Public Sector clients were increasingly demanding that their building contractors provide demonstrable evidence of their role in sustaining local communities, it was also imperative that the same message was driven down through their suppliers.
Further information on future conferences can be obtained from hannah.ransom@cesw.org.uk
