| Diversity in Store |
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Liverpool's Lib Dem council is supporting a programme to ensure city centre stores and hotels reflect the diversity of the city's residents by the time it is European Capital of Culture in 2008.|
A long-standing concern has been the under representation of people from a black or other racial minority background employed in city centre businesses. A recent city council survey found that 4% of the city centre workforce is from a black or other racial minority background. While this is much better than many expected, it is acknowledged that there is more work to be done. The City Council with the People Pool, JET South Central and Jobcentre Plus have been working on a positive action programme with centre stores and hotels to improve the diversity of their workforce. Twelve trainees from the black and other racial minority communities were recruited at an open day held by JET South Central. Trainees went on to complete training courses in retail and hospitality before beginning placements at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Top Shop, Wade Smith and WH Smith. Three trainees have already found permanent employment at Crowne Plaza and TopShop, three trainees have been recruited by Marks and Spencer and two trainees have had their contracts extended at John Lewis. The other trainees are considering further/higher education options. Lib Dem Councillor Marilyn Fielding, City Council's Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: "We have been working hard to ensure that the Council's workforce is inclusive and truly reflects the make-up of the city and now 7.1% of our staff are from black and ethnic minority groups. "But traditionally there have been far too few black people employed in the city centre and we have been working with partners and employers to change that. We are looking at ways in which people have been recruited to see if improvements can be made there. "Now that we have a number of trainees I would hope that more people would have the confidence to apply for posts and that this will encourage both employers and job seekers to ensure that the city is as culturally diverse as the community as a whole." The City Council, the People Pool and JET South Central will continue to work closely with the stores and will run a further eight programmes for customer service assistants and four management programmes.
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