A TEAM leader at a Newport hotel has joined her employer at the House of Commons to announce a new recruitment programme for ex-offenders and training for 20,000 apprentices.

Taya Kouroupis was in Westminster on January 30 to launch the Greene King Stepping Up Report, challenging the barriers of social mobility and providing a commitment to create the best opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds in the hospitality sector.

The report sets out five ambitions to encourage greater social mobility alongside a call for action for the government and industry generally to do its part.

Miss Kouroupis is included in the report as a key case study, highlighting how completing an apprenticeship with the pub company and brewer helped her take the first steps of a career in hospitality.

The team leader at the New Inn Hotel in Newport said: “I’m really pleased to have been included in the report and I hope that people will look at my story and see how they too can benefit from an apprenticeship and create a successful career path.”

Rooney Anand, Greene King CEO added: “Having served the nation for more than two hundred years, we’ve witnessed the industry’s ability to propel social mobility.

“Growing careers from the pub floor to senior leadership, it backs people from all walks of life.

“Social mobility has no single solution, we all must play our part.”

Damian Hinds MP, Secretary of State for Education, said: “Everyone should have the chance to fulfil that spark of potential that exists in all of us.”