From Tower Project to Tower Hamlets

Mayor Lutfur Rahman has welcomed to the Council ten of the Borough’s disabled residents who will be taking up work placements at Tower Hamlets. The ten were recruited with the assistance of the Tower Project, a greatly respected community based voluntary organisation which supports many of the Borough’s residents who have disabilities.

Mayor Rahman said: “I am committed to supporting all our residents into employment and hope their time here will be beneficial.” The placements are part of Mayor Rahman’s efforts to help the Borough’s residents find employment

Alongside working at the Council for one day a week on placements in Planning, Communications, Democratic Services, Housing Options and Day Centres, the new recruits will have two and a half days training a week. They are working towards achieving a Level 1 NVQ in business administration.

Councillor Abdul Asad, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, welcomed the residents on their first day. He said: “The year-long placement will give these residents the support and experience to feel comfortable in a working environment. I hope they are able to learn more about the council while gaining skills that will help them in the future.”

•Meanwhile three engineering graduates, all Tower Hamlets residents, are now working for the Council’s Transport and Highways Service on its new graduate entry scheme. Emdad Ahmed, Jessica Bastock and Qamar Chowdhury are employed on two year fixed term contracts which will see them spend a third of their time in each of three different kinds of work: development, flood and structures, and general projects.

Again, Mayor Rahman welcomed the new staff, who were chosen from 35 applicants for the scheme.  He hoped that the placements will ensure that the qualified graduates the service needs are available if and when they need new permanent staff.

Cllr Shahed Ali, Cabinet Member for the Environment, congratulated the graduates on their high level of skill and hoped they would enjoy working with the Council.

said: “The graduates employed are of the highest calibre. The scheme will provide fantastic on-the-job training for our new engineers and they will benefit from working with our dedicated teams in Transport and Highways.”
The scheme was hugely popular when it was advertised and there was a large response for this type of programme with 35 engineering graduates applying. This resulted with 12 local people being interviewed.