Countryside Job Bus - FIL 4742

ALFORD - 17th March 2003

The Countryside Job Bus Project was launched on October 5th 1992 as a joint initiative between the Employment Service, The Lincolnshire Training & Enterprise Council and The Rural Development Commission. The three partners provided the necessary funds and Holland Training Services were contracted to manage the project.

 

The first vehicle, a Double Deck Leyland Atlantean Bus, housed the Employment Section downstairs and the I.T. Training Section upstairs. Due to its immediate success a decision was soon made to purchase a second bus and in June 1993 the project was re-launched with a Bendi-bus joining the Double-deck and several new venues added to the schedule. Both buses then enjoyed considerable success and ESF funding was obtained to keep the project going.

 

Due to the closure of Holland Training Services the management of the project was taken over by the Lincolnshire TEC in 1997. By now the buses were showing their ages and proving very costly to maintain. It was therefore decided to purchase newer vehicles, refurbish them and replace the Double-deck and Bendi-bus with two Leyland Leopard coaches. This process was completed in 1997 and 1998.

 

With the Lincolnshire TEC due to close in March 2001 it was decided to look for a new Project Manager. In January 2001 Boston College, who had taken on the management of the I.T. Training Sections of the buses in July 1999, took on the overall management working in partnership with the Employment Service and the Learning & Skills Council. Each bus had three members of staff on board - an Employment Service representative, a College Training Officer and a Driver/Administrator.

 

Services Provided

 

Employment Service Sections

Working closely with all the local Job Centres each Job Bus had approximately 200 vacancies on display. Vacancy display boards were used for clients to look at the cards and select from them. These were updated daily as vacancies were filled and new ones notified. The Employment representatives on board provide advice on a wide range of other services and referrals were made to New Deal, local Colleges, Connexions, Business Start-up agencies etc. There were specialist Job Newspapers available plus a wide range of leaflets and books on display.

 

I.T. Training Sections

Students were provided with training in CLAIT, IBT 2, IBT 3 and RSA Word-processing Levels 1, 2 & 3. Priority in training was given to the unemployed, women returners and disabled people, however, no one was excluded and there were a number of retired and employed students. A big plus for the students was that all the training was FREE of charge.

 

Driver/Administration

The Driver/Administrators provided vital admin support to the Employment and Training Sections as well as a range of other services including a free CV service to those clients in need.

 

Statistics

Daily, weekly and monthly statistics were collated on numbers attending, submissions to vacancies, number of new clients attending for I.T., CVs completed and student examination successes, plus referrals to all other agencies.

 

Job Bus Staff

As there were two buses they were defined as Red Route Job Bus and Blue Route Job Bus

 

The Red Route Job Bus served -

Alford - Monday

Market Rasen - Tuesday

Woodhall Spa - Wednesday

Caistor - Thursday

Market Rasen - Friday

 

The Blue Route Job Bus served -

Coningsby - Monday

Coningsby - Tuesday

Spilsby - Wednesday

Bourne - Thursday

Wainfleet - Friday

Done