MP Visits Care Office
Paul Uppal, the MP for Wolverhampton South West, visited Housing 21’s Wolverhampton care office last week. The visit, organised as part of a programme of activity in support of National Apprenticeships Week, enabled Mr Uppal to meet some of the care apprentices on Housing 21’s health and social care programme and learn more about the organisation’s services from the local staff.
The leading provider of care, health and housing services launched its new Apprenticeship Qualification Framework in May 2001, opening up opportunities for new and existing employees to benefit from the nationally accredited qualifications in health and social care, housing and business administration. At that time Housing 21 was one of just a handful of organisations offering Qualifications and Credit Framework Apprenticeships and had just two apprentices. Twelve months on, over 500 Housing 21 employees are studying towards accredited awards.
The Wolverhampton office is one of 37 care offices that Housing 21 has across the country providing 131,000 hours of care each week to 10,000 care users.
Commenting on his visit, Paul Uppal said: “It was excellent to meet with apprentices of all ages today. I found the number of young men coming forward encouraging, in what has been traditionally a female profession.
“What I found most heartening was that I saw a tangible demonstration of lifelong learning, adaptation and skills, which is not only good for the people I met today but also for Wolverhampton as a whole.”
Liz Scott-Walter, vocational services business partner for Housing 21 added: “We’re delighted that Paul Uppal has been able to visit our office and meet some of the people involved in our apprenticeship programme. The professional development of our workforce is very important to us and we are proud of the achievements of the health and social care apprentices.”
Over the next 12 months Housing 21 plans to deliver around 1000 frameworks to help young people and adults into professional careers as they learn through employment. The Apprenticeship Framework has enabled Housing 21 employees to gain nationally accredited qualifications in English and Maths as well as underpinning knowledge or technical certificates in their chosen vocational area.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Wendy Gornicki, PR & Information Officer, Housing 21 on 0370 192 4338 or email wendy.gornicki@housing21.co.uk
Housing 21’s mission is to promote independence and choice for older people through quality care, health and housing services. It provides around 131,000 hours of care each week and manages 18,700 sheltered and extra care apartments, providing services to more than 31,000 service users.
Keep up to date with Housing 21 at www.facebook.com/housing21.co.uk or via our website www.housing21.co.uk, or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Housing21news