Marks & Spencer Awarded Employability for Excellence 2006

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One Parent Families is delighted that the Marks & Spencer pioneering scheme to help disadvantaged groups get into employment, Marks & Start, has been awarded The Business in the Community (BitC) Employability Award for Excellence 2006 and the for its Marks & Start programme.

Marks & Spencer was also recognised as the top company in the UK for responsible business at the awards, being named Company of the Year 2006.

'Marks & Start' is the UK's biggest company-led work experience scheme and is Marks & Spencer's flagship community programme. It has offered work experience to over 2,500 people who face barriers getting a job, including homeless, disabled and young unemployed people and lone parents returning to work. One Parent Families is responsible for running the Lone Parents Returning to Work programme, which is now in its third year.

Chris Pond, Chief Executive of One Parent Families says "It is fantastic that Marks & Start has received the recognition it so deserves for this flagship Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, not only through this award but also for the difference that the programme is making to lives of hundreds of lone parents. With the recent publication of the Welfare Reform Bill and additional measures aimed at helping lone parents look for work, high quality employability programmes, such as Marks & Start, will be crucial if the Government is to reach its target of a 70 per cent employment rate for lone parents by 2010. The 'Marks and Start' Lone Parents Returning to work programme has really made a difference to the lives of 400 lone parents over 40% of whom will go on to find work, mostly with Marks & Spencer who are not only committed to their staff but also to giving those less fortunate an opportunity to overcome the barriers they face when trying to return to work."

EJ Walker, Marks and Spencer's Community Programme Manager says "Marks & Spencer is proud to be working in partnership with One Parent Families to help us achieve execellence in making Marks and Spencer a socially responsible company."

Go to www.oneparentfamilies.org.uk/marksandspencer for further information about joining the scheme.

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