The highly-regarded Get Bradford Working programme by Bradford Council is proving to be a very successful model, and the latest initiative announced as part of the project will only enhance its reputation.

On the back of the Westfield project finally getting properly under way, the Council has launched ambitious plans for a retail academy to work alongside the under-construction shopping centre along with other retailers and Jobcentre Plus and various employment agencies.

The Council is putting £1.4m into the scheme, which will bring its total investment in the initiative to around £10m.

Many will regard that as money well spent, as it has helped hundreds of unemployed people back into work and created more than 300 new jobs and apprenticeships in the district.

Indeed, the scheme has been so successful that the national Labour Party plan to use it as a model to replace its private sector-led Work Programme, should the party get back into power after the next election.

In Bradford, by providing such tailored training to suit the needs of a constantly changing and evolving jobs market, the Council, along with other initiatives such as the Telegraph & Argus’ own Foundation For Jobs, is working hard to tackle the blight of youth unemployment that so mars this district.

It means that young people will be more able to learn the skills they truly need to be able to take up the jobs that will become available as we slowly escape the clutches of the recession.

And it also means that as Westfield opens its shops, and other businesses start to turn to Bradford because of initiatives like the Producer City, the workforce will be already here – and that in itself will act as an incentive for firms to move into the district.