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Workforce Development Awards 2009

The winners of the Workforce Development Awards 2009 were announced at a ceremony held in London on 23rd April.

The event was hosted by the National Employer Service (NES) and the finalists included Tesco Stores Ltd, Vodafone, McDonald's Restaurants, Rentokil Initial and Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd.

The Workforce Development Awards were created to recognise employers who have developed innovative training programmes and learners who have excelled in work-based learning.

The winner of the 2009 Employer Award at the Workforce Development Awards was travel company, TUI UK & Ireland.

TV celebrity, entrepreneur and property developer Sarah Beeny presented the awards. She said: "Training is critical to business success and tonight we have seen some great examples of how individuals and companies thrive when people work together to develop skills and qualifications."

The Workforce Development Awards are run by the National Employer Service, which offers advice on workforce development to national, multi-site companies with more than 5,000 employees.

Skills and apprenticeships minister Lord Young also attended the awards. He said: "In this challenging economic climate, companies with a skilled and productive workforce are at a distinct advantage. In supporting large employers to create highly effective training programmes, the NES can be instrumental in improving a company's competitiveness - invaluable at any time but vital during a recession."

The categories of the Workforce Development Awards include the Apprentice Award, Advanced Apprentice Award, Employer Award, Skills for Life Award and Train to Gain Award.

Hilary Chadwick, director of the National Employer Service, said, "We've seen record entries for this year's Workforce Development Awards. The standard has been excellent and we applaud the efforts of all the entrants.

"In addition to the commitment shown we are also seeing some exciting innovations in workplace learning. We hope these exemplars will be of value to all the country's largest employers as they upskill their people to drive their business forward."

The premier sponsor of the event was Campus Veolia Environnement, with support from Edexcel, EDI, E.ON UK, City & Guilds and ThirdForce.

External links

More information about the Workforce Development Awards can be found at www.workforcedevelopmentawards.org.uk

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