Today I had the chance to meet with the Labour Minister for Poland Anna Kalata, she has a very large task in front of her; tackling the unemployment and re-skilling of the Polish Labour Market. We have spent the last 12 months developing networks and relationships in Poland so that we can develop our concept of Improving Peoples Lives in Poland. Official unemployment figures have been coming down for the last few months, but the number of people in work is not increasing. This means that there is a big impact in the number of Polish people leaving their home to seek work in the UK and Ireland. There is no doubt that the Polish workers have brought tremendous new skills to the UK but they leave a very big gap in the labour market in Poland.

We have set up a Polish Resource Centre in our A4e Westminster office to support those Polish workers who now wish to return to Poland to develop their careers at home. We meet through our work in the UK many Polish people who have enjoyed working in the UK, meeting people and developing language and other skills, but now want to return home. This may not be as easy as it sounds to make arrangements and try to identify a new job opportunity in Poland so they can put these new skills to good use. We really want to help here as it is a real win win.

During our meeting today with the Polish Labour Minister she said she was very interested in cooperation and looked forward to a further meeting in the New Year. We hope to develop some very exciting programmes with the government that can tackle the long term structural unemployment in many of the 16 regions within Poland.

I also had the chance to meet some very dedicated staff from an exciting project in one of the regions. The manager has such a passion for his work and a determination to change the lives of the people he is supporting I found it an inspiration to hear about his work and success. I hope we can build more networks with people involved in this work.

If you are involved in supporting unemployed people in Poland perhaps with a regional or local labour office I would love to hear about your successes and what your hopes are for the improvement of your services. I want to spend time in 2007 trying to listen and learn about the issues which need to be addressed and the way you are helping people to move back towards the world of work. Perhaps we can help each other and I would be happy to share our experiences and resources to Improve Peoples Lives together. Please contact me and I will look forward to hearing your ideas and visiting you over the next few months.

Thanks

Roy Newey