This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Euro funding to enhance skills
28/10/2005
Scotland will receive £75 million of European funding to help enhance skills and training in a number of sectors.
More than 150 new projects will receive £34.5 million between them, and the remaining £40.5 million will go towards a series of continuing and rolling projects, in what is likely to be the final significant round of Objective 3 European Structural Funds in the 2000-2006 Programme.
The projects cover a wide range of economic development areas including enhancing training and skills.
A project which will equip professional footballers who don't make the grade to retrain for a career outside the game, is among the projects which will benefit.
Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Allan Wilson said:
"I am very pleased to announce this very significant amount of ESF funding which will go towards more than 400 projects in lowland Scotland.
"£75 million is a vast amount of money which will benefit a wide range of projects around the country.
"Almost £175,000 will go towards the education and the football industry project which will help young players develop the skills and training they'll need if they don't manage to make the grade as a professional.
"A further £1 million will go towards the Scottish Adult Learning Partnership to assist people aged between 40 and 50 who have been unemployed for more than six months.
"And there are of course other projects, from getting young people with disabilities in the Borders into work, to addressing skills shortages in the meat industry.
"As this round of European funding draws to a close, I expect to see this investment enhancing training and skills - and ultimately the economy - across the country."
NATIONAL PROJECTS
1. Cutting Quality
The aim of this Project, awarded £137,627 of European Social funding, run by the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders is to address the skills shortages within the meat industry and to encourage a wider take up of training across the independent butcher sector which currently employs around 3600 people, and supplies vital jobs and services in rural areas.
The Project focuses on the need for development of craft skills and enhances the current NVQ/SVQ training programmes by bolting on a comprehensive craft training and customer service programme to the Enterprise Network funded VQ programmes. Those undertaking these higher level additional units will be awarded an additional internationally recognized certification; either Scottish Federation of Meat Traders Associations Craftsman Certificate, Customer Service Award or Scottish Federation Diploma.
2. Older Learners' and Employability
The project managed by the Scottish Adult Learning Partnership SALP, has been awarded £1,020,317 of European Social funding to work with unemployed older people, both male and female aged 40 to 50. The aim is to support beneficiaries in getting a job by helping them achieve core and basic skills, including basic ICT training. The Project will deliver basic employability skills support through work experience and will help these individuals develop greater confidence and motivation. This guidance and mentoring support to individuals will take place throughout the 40 week project. Beneficiaries will be recruited both through local activities run by local organisations, and through national promotional campaigns such as Adult Learners Week.
3. Education and the football industry
The Scottish Professional Football Educational Trust has been awarded £174,881 of European Social Funding to offer young football apprentices involved in Scottish Enterprise's Skillseekers programme additional education and skills. This will allow them to secure employment outwith the football industry both to give them something to fall back on in case they are not offered a full time contract in football, and to enable those who do become full time professionals to continue with their education and training. The activity which will now be funded covers:
- The education and welfare office will work with club learning reps to encourage pre-apprentices to be committed to education
- Continue to monitor attitudes to learning (apprentices and full apprentices)
- Employ a careers guidance professional on a part-time basis
- Achieve recognition as a learndirect branded learning centre
- Appoint a new person to work with local authorities on coaching programmes
- Appoint a new member of staff to secure work placements and identify employment opportunities for current players outwith the football industry
- Identify skill requirements of potential employers and develop appropriate training opportunities
- Support a pilot group of clubs to secure IiP (Investors in People)
4. Managing Health Conditions
The project by offering £1,727,413 to Jobcentre Plus will add significantly to the basic provision for individuals claiming Invalidity Benefit to enable 6,252 clients to obtain individually tailored assistance/guidance with the aim of supporting 3,126 to move from benefit into employment. Invalidity Benefit (IB) customers face multiple barriers in moving into work, a major part of these being health issues, lack of confidence and disengagement from society. This project will provide a service across Lowland Scotland mirroring that available in the Pathway pilot area of Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyle and Bute.
Jobcentre Plus, partnered with local NHS Authorities, will be able to deliver Condition Management Programmes comprised of cognitive educational modules helping IB clients understand their health condition, its effects, how to manage their thought processes and manage pain and health conditions, while supporting them with extensive job search support, training and work placements.
The Objective 3 European Social Fund Programme covers all of Lowland Scotland and funds training, employability, raising skill levels and competitiveness. The Objective 3 Programme is worth £350 million from 2000 to 2006. Including this latest announcement, over 2,800 projects have benefited from ESF awards to the value of £346 million.
The breakdown of the bulk of the funding so far is - 36 per cent going to projects run by the Voluntary Sector, 37 per cent to Further and Higher Education projects, and 16 per cent to local authority projects.
So far the programme has helped almost 30,000 people go into further education or training, over 20,000 people to go into employment, over 165,200 have received training, over 70,200 people have gained a qualification, and it has encouraged more than 2,000 companies to undertake workforce training.
Discussions on the future of European Structural funds is continuing under the UK Presidency. The UK Government view is that future Structural Funds should be better targeted at the new member states. The Executive share the concerns about the overall size of the EU budget. As the level of funding is still subject to the EU budget negotiations it is not possible to accurately assess the level of future funding, however, if any funding is to come to Scotland it will be a smaller amount than that received under the current programmes.