Government supports firms with £25 million to fund training
30 Apr 2014 04:20 PM
Matthew Hancock unveils £25 million
additional support for businesses to take the lead in improving training for
new and current employees.
Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock yesterday
(30 April 2014) unveiled £25 million of additional support for businesses
to take the lead in improving training for new and current
employees.
Speaking at a UK Commission for Employment and Skills
Investment Showcase, the Minister pledged to support businesses in the
automotive sector supply chain with £20 million to fund training. This
marks the next development in support of employer ownership, making sure skills
support meets the needs of business. He also announced the successful bidders
in the next phase of Employer Ownership Pilot (EOP) funding as well as
unveiling what previous winners have chosen to invest their funding
on.
The
£20 million fund for the automotive sector supply chain will support the
skills essential for the continued growth of the automotive sector. From next
week, businesses in the sector will be able to submit proposals in order to
access funding and address skills shortages. Businesses can submit their
proposals from 6 May 2014 and the offer will be open for 12
weeks.
Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock
said:
Our
goal is to bring employment and education closer together, to deliver the
skills employers need. This straight forward, flexible employer ownership fund
will allow employers in the supply chain to develop their skills so they can
take advantage of significant growth opportunities in the sector. By having a
highly skilled workforce, companies will be able to grow and meet the imminent
and longer-term needs of automotive manufacturing companies.
In
addition to this, further successful bidders for the EOP fund have
been announced. Under this scheme, employers combine their own money with
government funding, to invest in the training they need. Three companies have
received £5.2 million between them to fund schemes in their
area.
The
first of these is Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Their project will address the need
to improve the quality of the skills in the tourism sector locally, with a new
Tourism Apprenticeship framework, which will be owned and developed by
employers. The aim is to deliver 100 new apprenticeship places at tourism
businesses in Blackpool.
The
second successful bidder is Kostal (UK) Ltd. They will use the funding to
address the skills needs identified by employers in the Advanced Manufacturing
& Engineering sector in the Sheffield City Region. The project will be run
by a board, chaired by Kostal (UK) Ltd, and made up of a number of employers
from the City Region.
The
third successful bidder was Freedom Communications. They will be using
the EOP funding to address a skills need within the unified
communications (UC) sector. The project will deliver end to end skills
development through working in partnership with schools and Further Education
to engage early with learners to guide, support and motivate them to progress
an apprenticeship in next generation technologies. Through the creation of a
bespoke UC Higher Apprentice scheme, Freedom will deliver a
sustainable talent pipeline increasing the availability of high
end UC skills in the market.
Matthew Hancock added:
Under this scheme, employers combine their own money
with government funding, to invest in the training they need. It’s
simple, direct, and focussed. We’ve learnt a lot from the first rounds of
funding about how to support employers, some sectors have specialist skills and
it is these companies that know their training needs best. By providing them
with the funding, they can build training schemes around their
requirements.
The
Minister went on to announce successes from the last year’s
successfulEOP bidders. National Grid, Everton Football Club, Rogers
Restorations and Costain have pledged to create a total of 5,000 traineeships,
which will be funded by EOP.
Matthew Hancock this week welcomed his own Trainee to
his Parliamentary Office as part of the new Parliamentary Traineeship Scheme.
Yusuf Khan will complete a 12 week Traineeship where he will gain work
experience and work towards qualifications to help give him the right skills to
gain future employment. Traineeships were created in August 2013 to help young
people gain the skills and vital experience they need to get an Apprenticeship
or other job. They comprise work preparation training, maths and English
training and work experience with an employer.
Notes to Editors:
- A
copy of the Minister’s speech is available here
- Information on the successful EOP bidders and
quotes from the businesses are below:
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Nigel Kilgallon, Chair of Blackpool Tourism Academy and
Director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach said:
Blackpool Tourism Academy is a consortium of key leisure
attractions within the UK’s premier seaside resort dedicated to boosting
the skills of its seasonal and year round workforce. With the assistance
of EOP we can now roll out a new WorldHost customer service standard,
expand the range of supervisory and management programmes on offer, and pioneer
a new tourism practice apprenticeship.
Freedom Communications
Freedom’s Operations Director Lisa Clark has been
responsible for the design and delivery of the project. Lisa
said:
Having identified the growing skills gap within our
industry, Freedom are delighted to have the support of HM Government’s
Employer Ownership Funding in the creation of a sustainable talent pipeline.
Through this project, Freedom will develop a unique technical workforce that
will help drive business and economic growth.
Everton Football Club
Everton in the Community, the official charity of
Everton Football Club, have recently launched a flagship traineeship programme,
which offers young people from across the region access to
qualifications.
Along with partner Ingeus, Everton in the Community is
leading a consortium of Merseyside employers who want to recruit unemployed
young people into their businesses, and has developed a unique programme to
give local young people their first foot on the career ladder.
The
programme will also combine money from business and the government to help
employers invest in the skills and training needed for growth.
Dr
Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Chief Executive Officer for Everton in the Community,
said:
We
are delighted to have secured this funding from the BIS, Skills Funding
Agency and UKCES to support thousands of unemployed young people into
a career that excites them.
Rogers Restorations
Mike Rogers, Managing Director of Rogers Restorations
Ltd said:
We
are honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead this exciting
new BSE (Building Services & Engineering) traineeship which we
hope will encourage new employers into enabling a new entrance path for young
people looking to gain employment in the industry.
It’s very exciting that the government is
listening to the micro employers and small businesses that are at the coal-face
of apprenticeships and training within the industry. The experience of these
businesses and their knowledge around bringing young people into employment is
invaluable for creating a viable and effective training
scheme.
Costain
Costain is leading a number of large, medium and small
construction employers, including the Federation of Master Builders, to deliver
the vital up-skilling of employees inclusive of the supply chain within Round 2
of the Employer Ownership of Skills. This capability development will include
supervisors, higher apprenticeships, and will help more people enter the
industry by the delivery of traineeships, which in turn will support our
growing apprenticeship programmes.