Pictured above: Mayor of Walsall, Councillor Gary Clarke, meets Tracey young jobseeker Dwayne Nicholson during a tour of Pertemps People Development Group's offices in the town

The Mayor of Walsall has called for more to be done to "bridge the gap in the skills market" so that young unemployed people in the town can enjoy greater job opportunities.

Councillor Gary Clarke was speaking during a tour of Pertemps People Development Group's (PPDG) Bradford Place offices where he met a team of training specialists and learned about efforts to help young people across the town find employment.

PPDG team leader Andrew Downes had invited the mayor to visit the centre to demonstrate how the company is working alongside local businesses to provide clients with a vital first step onto the career ladder.

Councillor Clarke said: "We need more organisations like Pertemps People Development Group to help bring about fresh economic prosperity for the Black Country. Young people are our town's future and a key part of Walsall's regeneration strategy is to bridge the gap in the skills market in order that young job seekers can enjoy employment opportunity."

During the visit he met 24-year-old jobseeker Dwayne Nicholson, from Pleck. Dwayne said: "PPDG is giving me a real chance to develop my skills by taking the time to sit down and listen to how I feel and where I want to be in life. These courses are genuine support mechanisms which are of great benefit for residents like me."

Andrew said: "We are delighted that the Mayor of Walsall took the time to visit us as we prepare to celebrate our first anniversary of providing employment support for almost 250 of the town's young people aged between 18 and 24. We were able to demonstrate how we work to overcome the hurdles unemployed people face and the innovative ways we prepare job seekers for the workplace in order to secure sustainable employment."

Representatives of local employers including Sitexorbis, TJ Hughes and Spar also attended. PPDG delivers the Government funded Work Focused Training (WFT) initiative across Walsall, providing vocational training opportunities and employability skills to 18 to 24-year-olds. It is part of the Government's Backing Young Britain campaign, in partnership with the Future Jobs Fund and the Community Taskforce, which encourages organisations to provide young people with the opportunity they need to work.

PPDG's team of employment experts provide advice on benefits, confidence building, one-to-one support, CV and interview preparation as well as finding the right job or training course. In partnership with DWP, the Ministry of Justice and Jobcentre Plus, PPDG delivers a diverse range of employment and training initiatives including Flexible New Deal, Working Neighbourhoods Fund, Learndirect and many ESF funded programmes. More than 100,000 job seekers have been helped into sustained employment by the company since the projects began.  It has trained 130,000 people in vocational skills, and over 175,000 people have benefitted from professional information, advice and guidance services.