London employers will join forces with local councils to tackle unemployment as part of the government’s 2012 Olympic Games vision for the capital.
The East and West London pathfinders initiative, unveiled yesterday by Margaret Hodge, the minister for employment and welfare reform, makes up part of the government report Building on success: London’s challenge for 2012.
Hodge said the project would be central to the government’s agenda for welfare reform, and would help 250,000 unemployed Londoners back to work.
“This is what our proposals for the welfare state are about,” she said. “Using what works, ensuring the state can be flexible enough to meet the needs of individuals, and making the most of local expertise.
“The pathfinders will pool together money and expertise across the private and public sector, giving them the freedom to use their resources as they see fit,” Hodge said.
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The programme will bring together employers in 11 London boroughs: Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest in East London and Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow in West London.
