News
Regional skills agenda given £6.4m boost
July 16, 2008 12:30
Regional development agency One NorthEast this week confirmed its commitment to boosting skills levels in the region by approving a £6.4m funding package.
The Agency’s Board has given the go ahead to a programme which will support skills providers in the North East to improve their capacity and ability to respond to the demand from regional employers.
The main aim is to ensure employers within the nine growing priority industry sectors highlighted in the Regional Economy Strategy (RES) have access to individuals with the skills they need to develop and grow their business.
These are chemicals and pharmaceuticals, automotive, energy, defence and marine, food and drink, tourism and hospitality, commercial and creative, health and social care and knowledge intensive business services
The Higher Level Skills Provider Network Continuation project, which has been awarded the funding by the Agency’s Board, will be led by One NorthEast, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) North East and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
Tim Pain, Head of Business, Enterprise and Skills at One NorthEast, said: “The RES highlights the need to improve skills levels in the region and to ensure employers have access to the standard of employees they need to expand their workforce.
“What this major funding package will enable One NorthEast, the LSC North East and the HEFCE to do is to ensure providers of higher level skills can cater specifically for companies within the areas highlighted in the RES as the key drivers of economic growth. These areas are growing within the region and it’s vital we support them as much as possible.”
The project will establish a grant fund which will support collaborative approaches to meeting the higher level skills demands of regional employers including:
Support for capacity building, for example encouraging more pro-active employer engagement to develop new markets; developing staff to improve their employer engagement skills; and improving company and/or sector-specific labour market intelligence Developing and delivering the employer offer, for example developing greater flexibility in provision; creating an employer offer that is timely, responsive and comprehensive; and developing new provision to meet specific employer needs Developing facilities by enabling providers to purchase equipment, or improve facilities which will meet employer needs. Chris Roberts, Regional Director of the LSC North East, said: “The ability of training providers to respond to the needs of employers is essential if we are to equip businesses with the skills they need to compete and succeed.“I am confident that this significant investment will hit the spot in supporting the ambitions set out in the RES. It will also complement other resources currently being made available by the LSC North East through the Train to Gain service aimed at helping employers in the region address their skills needs at all levels.”
All projects seeking support from the funding pot must be able to demonstrate that they are responding to employer demand.
The grant fund is now live and will run for two years until July 2010.To find out more about the fund, contact Sanjee Ratnatunga at One NorthEast on (0191) 2296351.
Below is ONE NE time table for submission.
Call for Expressions of interest - Back end of July early August
Open day for interested providers – Back end of July early August
Deadline for Expression of Interest – 2-3 weeks after date of call
Higher Level Steering Group meeting – selection of proposals to proceed to stage 2 – Late August
Stage 2 – Development of expressions into full proposals - September
Stage 3 – Decisions to offer grant support to successful applicants – October