Pictured above: PPDG employment coach Fiona Ballantyne (left) is pictured with Claire Wixon, secretary to MP Aidan Burley, and PPDG Cannock centre manager Jonathan Skelly

Jobseekers and people keen to enhance their online skills were given the opportunity to tour an American-style bus and sign up to free computer courses when it arrived in Cannock for a day.

The big blue Winnebago was parked in Cannock town centre yesterday (Thurs). Kitted out with some of the latest learning equipment, the Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) bus was on hand to provide information to people regarding free computer courses.

Employment and training experts from the Cannock branch of PPDG, in Mill Street, were on hand to sign people up to free online computer courses.

Staff handed out information on www.myguide.gov.uk which is a website offering free and easy to use courses from the basics of getting started on a computer to using email and understanding how to shop online and pay bills. PPDG is working alongside Learndirect to offer people the opportunity to hone their online computer skills.

The courses can be taken at home or at the PPDG training centre in Cannock. The Winnebago also visited Stafford town centre this week and both events proved to be a great success.

Jonathan Skelly, PPDG centre manager at Cannock, said: "We have had a fantastic response. Dozens of people have turned up to come and see us during the two days that the Winnebago has visited Cannock and Stafford to sign up to the free online courses.

"The free computer courses are fantastic for people of all ages. Computers are now an integral part of life especially in the workplace and this is an opportunity for people to enhance their computer skills. We have had people of all ages come along and the older generation have also expressed a particular interest in developing their online computer skills."

Cannock MP Aidan Burley has teamed up with PPDG on a number of projects including placing jobseekers on work experience in his town office. His secretary Claire Wixon said: "PPDG does a fantastic job in Cannock and Aidan is fully committed to working in partnership with them. These free computer courses are an excellent way of helping people to enhance their skills." 

For more information on any of PPDG's employment and training services at Cannock contact the centre on 01543 230030. 

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.