On Friday 16th of December 2011, the Wolverhampton People's Parliament held an event in the City Council Chambers to celebrate the work that had been done since they launched their Employment White paper for people with a learning disability in the City 12 months ago.
Attended by Simon Warren, Chief Executive of Wolverhampton City Council and formally opened by the Mayor, Councillor Bert Turner, the event saw many local employment agencies and some of the City Council's Adult Services Team share what they had done to support people with learning disabilities into employment.
Representatives from the Council's Employment Teams based at Sentier, spoke about the training and employment opportunities that are available and how they have supported people into paid employment. Changing Our Lives also produced five films about people with a learning disability who had initially found paid work following this pathway.
Access 2 Business shared what they do and their success from supporting people into employment, whilst Mary Dunleavy from Job Centre Plus explained what support can be offered to employees and employers through the Access to Work programme.
At the end of the event, Simon Warren acknowledged the efforts everyone had made and discussed with Councillor Steve Evans who has supported the Parliament throughout the last year, how they can work together to identify other ways to engage people with a learning disability into paid employment.
Changing Our Lives