AN Eastleigh training firm has launched a series of new initiatives aimed at getting unemployed locals back into work.

IBP Training and Employment was originally set up as a joint venture between Eastleigh council and the developers of the business park at Southampton Airport.

Now the company has joined forces with Hampshire Training and Enterprise Council and Southampton City Council to provide work-based courses for adults.

Training will be available across a large number of vocational areas and will be free to clients who have been registered unemployed for more than six months.

Scheme manager Suzanne Constantine said the initiative would enable local people to gain qualifications that would help them in the jobs market.

"Prospective trainees should be between 25 and 63 and be unemployed. Anybody who is interested and thinks they may qualify should contact IBP Training as soon as possible."

Many of the courses are aimed at civil engineering and the construction industry where there is a shortage of skilled workers.

But new courses also include information technology, business administration and customer service.

IBP chairman John Bullen said: "Employers can become involved by offering work experience placements. If your organisation is experiencing skill shortfall this programme is the ideal way to offer a work trial to trainees as well as an opportunity for you to assess whether the trainee has what it takes to be a valuable member of your organisation."

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