New approach to boosting job prospects of Dundee’s youths

MEMBERS OF a new Dundee business group are to target employment prospects for young people as the city continues its billion-pound transformation.

The latest addition to Scottish Business in the Community’s Hub network — which features major employers Asda and Michelin as founding members — expects to target the city’s schools and young people to help improve job prospects.

The charity, which is supported by Prince Charles, says it gives businesses the chance to “give back” to their communities by coordinating efforts according to the needs of the local economy.

The new body — Scotland’s seventh Hub — will launch tomorrow with a special event at the Michelin Athletic Club on the city’s Drumgeith Road, and has targeted Dundee’s labour market.

SBC head of regions and services Bob Christie said the organisation had worked closely with the local authority to identify the city’s “priority needs” and would seek to work with the city’s schools, including P7 classes, to help children develop their prospects.

It will also work with young people to ease their passage into employment or further study, and encourage traditional firms to work alongside social enterprise where possible.

“Dundee is moving forward and, working together, businesses can make a very valuable contribution to all the activities which are going on in the city,” he said.

“We’ve got good interest from our big members, and they are keen to add their expertise and drive. Many people are already doing these things, but we’d like to do more if we could — and do it collaboratively.”

The plan has won backing from Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, with newly-elected president Tim Allan calling the initiative “hugely exciting” for its potential to create wealth and employment.

“Our members are eager to see joined-up projects like this help us push forward enterprise and business in our communities,” he said.

“We warmly welcome the Dundee Hub and, through our members’ efforts, will help support its important work mentoring young people, improving employability skills, empowering communities and enabling vibrant social enterprises.”

The move also has support from Asda, whose vice-president of corporate affairs Paul Kelly will also speak at tomorrow’s launch, alongside council chief executive David Dorward and Michelin factory manager John Reid.

“We have strong roots in Dundee and we employ more than 1,000 colleagues here,” he said.

“All local employers, large and small, have a responsibility to make a positive social impact on the individuals, families and communities that we rely on and who rely on us.

“That’s why I’m proud that Asda is a founding member of the Hub, which will bring together the private, public and third sectors to drive change and help make Dundee a better place in which to live, work and grow up.”

Mr Reid said the step was an “exciting and positive opportunity” for the city’s business community to focus its efforts ahead of what are expected to be gamechanging developments on the Waterfront and in the region’s economy.

“Our experience at Michelin is that a willingness to help and contribute is not the issue,” he said. “More often the issue is how to best contribute and to what initiatives.

“Hopefully the Hub will give guidance and focus to the businesses in Dundee and so make the biggest contribution possible.”

SBC Hubs are already established in Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh North, Glasgow and Inverness, with a further two planned for Aberdeen and West Edinburgh.

Chief executive Jane Wood said she was “excited” Dundee is set to join the network during a time of growth and development in the city.

“Hub members share ideas, enthusiasm and local knowledge and we’re delighted that we have another city involved,” she added. The troubled Co-operative Bank has revealed former deputy chairman of the Competition Commission Laura Carstensen as the new head of its values and ethics committee.

It said the appointment, which follows months of negative headlines, marked “a significant step forward in the bank’s moves to embed the co-operative values and ethics in its constitution and governance”.

Ms Carstensen, a commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said taking on the role was “a privilege and a great responsibility”.

Erin Thomson, who became the first female engineering craft apprentice to be appointed at Dounreay for more than 10 years, was voted Scotland’s Nuclear Apprentice of the Year in March. Women are said to “still make up a worryingly low proportion of the...

School pupils visit the Michelin Training Centre in Dundee. Michelin is one of the founding members of the latest addition to Scottish Business in the Community’s Hub network, which is to be launched in Dundee.