21.11.05
Czech delegates visit Cornish projects

Word of the success of the 42 projects that Cornwall Jobcentre Plus has run with investment through Objective One and the European Social Fund has spread across Europe.

A group of 10 civil servants from the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Prague City Council have just spent a week in Cornwall with Jobcentre Plus to gain an understanding of the factors that have led to the success of our local projects. And that success is in little doubt. Since the first Jobcentre Plus co-financed projects began in April 03 an impressive 5200 people in Cornwall have been supported in taking steps towards their return to work. Already 1600 people have secured work as a direct result of the projects and 800 people have achieved a qualification.

Thanks to the visit, the Czech delegates could see first hand some of the local projects. Pavel Rybin, project manager, said: "We are in our first period of administering EU Structural Funds so we were grateful for the help, guidance and support from a number of organisations visited throughout the week and especially from Jobcentre Plus. The key message we will be taking to colleagues back home is to keep the administration and implementation procedures as simple and beneficiary-friendly as possible, while working in genuine partnership across the entire Czech implementation structure."

Appreciative of the visit, the Czech ESF officers have invited Jobcentre Plus to go back to the Czech Republic next year and expressed their hope of maintaining their working relationship with their Cornwall colleagues to benefit from this helpful exchange of experience in the future.

For further information please contact Jacki Williams of Jobcentre Plus on 01872 355017 or email: jacki.williams@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in Jobcentre Plus through the European Social Fund (ESF).

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439

cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

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