The global recruitment agency Manpower has received an award recognising its contribution to the European Year of the Disabled.

And directors of the company rubbed shoulders with top EU ministers and the Italian prime minister at the meeting.

David Arkless, Manpower's senior vice president of corporate affairs, accepted the award from European Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou at a gala dinner last week.

Diamantopoulou was one of the architects of the proposed agency workers directive, which called for equal pay and rights for temps and was widely opposed by recruitment agencies in the UK.

Also attending were Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi.

Manpower won the award for several initiatives aimed at alerting employers to disability issues at work.

The company produced two publications about disability at work and organised a seminar for 100 top business people on disability.

The firm used the session to present best practice models for working with people with disabilities and will set up a business and disability network to enable the initiatives to continue in the future.