Stephen Hammond MP, parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport, visited the Imperial War Museum for the formal launch of the government-funded Military Work Placement Scheme operated by Skills for Logistics. The scheme is designed to fund companies to provide nearly 1000 work placements to ex-forces personnel into 2013. The current ratio of 30-percent job offers to placement represents a significant endorsement of the scheme, which began in November, by employers. These jobs range from senior director positions through operations management to driving. Mick Jackson, CEO of Skills for Logistics, commented, "We are seeing fantastic enthusiasm for the MWPS following its formal launch. We have received enormous support from employers with over 2000 registers placements. Companies include Kuehne + Nagel, TNT, Norbert Dentressangle, Boots and DHL. Employers clearly want to get involved in the scheme and have access to the excellent resource offered by men and women leaving the armed forces. There is demand for work placement opportunities across the whole spectrum of logistics roles, from warehousing to driving; traffic office to import/export.

Jackson said, "Creative and real value-adding solutions are being driven by large logistics companies, which have allowed us to get a real feel for how we can better engage military leaders in industry. This pilot scheme ends on 31 March and we see enormous benefit for a longer term scheme from April. Alongside the large companies wishing to get involved in the scheme, we are also building on work that we have carried out in local areas with local haulers and logistics operations. The logistics sector as a whole has a requirement for skilled labour, particularly to fill acute driver shortages; skilled labour exists within the armed forces but does not or cannot transfer effectively into civilian job roles. It is this market failure the scheme seeks to address. This programme is well on the way to transforming our sector by providing a bridge between employers and skilled ex-service personnel."

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