Medway’s project to help people into work has been praised in Parliament by the Education Minister.
The Medway-led SUCCES project has recently been named as one of the best projects in Europe and praised for its innovative delivery.
It targets people who are low skilled or low income and are looking for work. The scheme helps a variety people wishing to improve their situation, from young to old and the long term unemployed.
SUCCES has helped over 600 people in the last two and a half years. The assistance provided has ranged from higher training to softer skills programmes, such as confidence building and CV writing, aimed at progressing people closer to the labour market.
On Monday (4 March 2013) Rehman Chishti MP asked the Education Minister: “In Medway, the council-led SUCCES—or sustainable uplifting client centred employment support—initiative, which assists over-16s looking for work who have low skills and little experience, has been named as an example of best practice in Europe, helping more than 500 people. What plans does the Minister have to work with existing schemes and providers to deliver new traineeships?”
The Minister for Skills Matthew Hancock replied: “I congratulate Medway council on its SUCCES initiative. Traineeships are being designed in a highly consultative way to support and enhance existing best practice not only from councils but from organisations such as the Prince’s Trust, which does brilliant work in this area. I am happy to look at the work that goes on in Medway and to ensure that what we do on traineeships supports it.”