The Government
has today announced a £4.5 million fund for England’s biggest
cities and colleges to work together to boost adult skills across
the country.
The City Skills Fund will be available to the eight core cities
in England, plus London, and their surrounding local enterprise
partnership (LEP) areas.
Each city will receive around £500,000 to address skills
priorities across their regions. The City Skills Fund will help
cities and LEPs work with local colleges and independent providers
to boost the provision of skills needed by local employers. The
Government is also challenging cities to develop apprenticeship
city hubs which will help local businesses, particularly small
businesses, to take on apprentices.
Cities Minister Greg Clark said:
“The City Skills Fund will see our core cities working in
partnership with local colleges to ensure employers in their area
have access to people with the right skills to help them thrive
and grow. We are giving cities the chance to build the skills they
think are most important.
“This is another example of how the Government is putting cities
back in charge of their own economic destiny, allowing them to
drive growth and create jobs.”
Minister for Skills John Hayes said:
“Cities are at the heart of our nation and civic pride, so in
launching the City Skills Fund we will give our biggest cities the
opportunity to further develop adult skills in their locales. The
Government is already making unprecedented investment in
apprenticeships, and this fund will further boost adult skills in
our great cities across the nation.
“We also want to see cities develop apprenticeship hubs so that
local employers can make the most of the opportunities of
apprenticeships. It is currently National Apprenticeships Week,
which is the time to celebrate the countless achievements of
learners and employers, and to call on more firms to say
"you're hired" to a new apprentice."
The City Skills Fund will be used to:
Facilitate more effective cooperation and partnership between
the business-led LEPs and core cities working with local colleges
and independent providers.Develop a jointly agreed set of skills
priorities for the core city area so that there is a shared
understanding of the local skills requirements to meet business
needs and to stimulate growth.Set out how the core cities, LEPs,
colleges and independent providers will work together to implement
their priorities.Set out how partners will work together to ensure
that employer and individual demand in priority skills areas is
realised.
In December, the Government announced that England’s largest
cities outside London – Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool,
Newcastle, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds and Nottingham – will be
offered new investment as part of a series of bespoke ‘City
Deals’. This will free cities from Whitehall control in a number
of areas, allowing them to drive growth in their region. The City
Skills Fund is part of the City Deal being offered to each city.
Notes to editors
The Skills Funding Agency, which is responsible for managing the
funds, will ensure that the operation of the City Skills Fund is
streamlined, and that the funding will be allocated before 31
March 2012.
For further details on the City Deal, read the full document
here:
http://www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/unlocking-growth-cities
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