Employment and Workforce Development
Tackling Worklessness and Social Exclusion in the East Midlands has been a major project over the first half of 2007. Commissioned by emda, the regional development agency for the East Midlands, MYA has worked with a task group led by Jobcentre Plus to develop a plan to move 16,000 claimants into employment every year for five years. A central feature is the proposal to appoint 225 more personal advisers to be funded through ESF and other funds.
Liz Cousins and Martin Yarnit have worked with a number of local authorities on aspects of workforce development including Blackburn, Harrow and Nottinghamshire County Council.
Working with a high level group drawn from across the London Borough of Harrow, Martin Yarnit wrote the business plan for a new development in local government, a Corporate University. This aims to put learning and skills at the heart of the Council's operations, drawing on the model of the Unipart University.
Liz Cousins project managed a trail-blazing employer-led Skills for Life scheme for ASDA store staff in the East Midlands.
Martin Yarnit worked with BBC radio website producers to incorporate practical learning approaches into their planning. He has also carried out feasibility studies for a NHS recruitment scheme in Nottingham and a social enterprise centre for the Tyne and Wear in Newcastle. He has carried out a strategic review of New Deal in Sheffield aimed at increasing the number of black job entrants.
Examples of work are displayed below.