The four-pronged attack outlined

Employment Opportunities Fund

A £4.5m job creation fund to provide an intermediate labour market with around 350 temporary 12-month jobs created. This would be targeted at 18 to 25-year-olds, people with a disability or work-limiting health condition, and people over 50. It will provide a “bridge into work” for participants who will be employed to carry out real work tasks which have community benefit. As well as providing a paid job for 12 months it will enable people to gain qualifications and enter permanent, sustainable jobs. The range of opportunities are expected to be across caretaking, site management, horticulture, human resources, legal, IT, housing management, community and finance.

Routes into Work Plan

£1.4m to contract out to the voluntary sector as well as employment and skills providers to support job seekers into work. Interventions could include support for jobseekers with mental health issue, drug and alcohol dependency, disabilities, those from ethnic minorities who are under-employed. It could also include offering skills for employment such as entry level English for speakers of other languages, supporting those with low or no academic qualifications by entering a pre-employment programme, graduate internships to support graduates from higher education into employment, and providing tailored support to jobseekers over the age of 50.

Industrial Centres of Excellence

£1.8m to be spent on creating five centres, with contributions of £300,000 available to support the development of each, and a further £300,000 to be spent on developing a Bradford Enterprise Curriculum in schools. The aim is for the centres to work across the 14 to 19 education and training system, acting as a hub leading networks of quality learning providers, including schools, colleges, private training providers and the University. The work would support the following economic sectors: advanced engineering and materials, financial and business services, food and drink, environmental technologies, creative and digital, healthcare technologies, retail and wholesale or distribution, and business services for corporate headquarters.

Apprenticeship Training

Agency A £1.5m bid has been made to the Government’s Business, Innovation and Skills department, with an initial £7,000 already received to help companies employ apprentices on an agency basis which would minimise the risk associated with employing staff more permanently. A proposal has been submitted to tie in with the Regional Growth Fund work to take place in the city centre through a growth zone. The model would create 400 apprenticeships in businesses to help develop their workforce and also reduce youth unemployment. A company hiring an apprentice through the programme would commit to do so for an agreed period of time and the pay the agency an agreed weekly rate. The agency would pay the wage of the apprentice and arrange for their training which would lead to a qualification.