Energy & Utility Skills Network fuelling growth for small businesses
£1.26m to support Employer Networks and five Apprenticeship bursaries for small businesses
Figures from the Federation of Small Businesses has shown that over 39,000 people working for small businesses in the gas industry are still waiting to receive formal training. But we mustn’t judge our 57,700 private-sector gas businesses in England who employ a workforce of 105,000; they’re out there every day doing what they do best. Time, money and a lack of funding available from the government have all contributed to this skills gap. Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills) has stepped in to help by providing a £1.26m network opportunity for smaller business.
EU Skills is licensed by government to ensure that individuals and businesses in the gas and waste management industries have the skills they need now and in the future. With this in mind, EU Skills has secured funding from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) through the Growth and Innovation Fund totalling £1.26m.
Lucy Ritchie, Client Manager for SME’s explains: “This new injection of funding will be used to support the setting up of the EU Skills Network, a series of employer-led network groups facilitated by EU Skills and supported by small businesses in the gas and waste management industries.”
The EU Skills Network will offer smaller businesses in the gas industry a lifeline, helping to identify training and skills gaps in their workforce and solutions on how best to overcome them. The Network will encourage smaller businesses to voice their concerns and provide a spring-board to launch ideas from. The EU Skills Network website is the starting point to register interest, recommend a business group to join and pose a suggestion to the employer-led network. Signing up to the online network provides access to:
- Network training and events
- Big industry tips, advice and support
- Access to quality training
- Opportunities to get involved with tender responses
- Access to funding for Apprenticeship programmes.
Commenting on The Networks, Dr John Mullet Development Director, Bio-Group Ltd said, “The Network is an opportunity for us to work with other smaller businesses as skills are the lifeblood to enable growth and to really embrace the skills we need to learn and adapt to new technologies.”
For more information about the EU Skills Network visit:
http://networks.euskills.co.uk/skillsandtraining
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Notes to editors:
Issued by: Ann Harrison
T: 07834 651 314
E: communications@euskills.co.uk
Sent: 17.06.2013
About the EU Skills Network:
The EU Skills Network is a place for small businesses in the gas and waste management industries to get together and find real solutions to meet business needs.
The Network will open doors for you; help you pitch for bigger contracts and, above all, help you to find and train your people.
By working closely with businesses of the same size in the same industry, you’ll find a number of solutions to your most common business problems. The network acts as a resource pool so that you can ask for help and, in return, give another business a helping hand.
It’s your network. Together we can build your business to be the best it can be.
For more information about the EU Skills network, please visit:
http://networks.euskills.co.uk/skillsandtraining
About Energy & Utility Skills:
Our Vision: Ensuring our industries have the skills they need now and in the future.
Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills) is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the gas, power, waste management and water industries, licensed by Government and working under the guidance of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). Employer-led, our purpose is to ensure that our industries have the skills they need now and in the future.
The energy and utilities sector is fundamental to the success of the UK economy and is crucial to the way modern society functions. It is critical to facilitate an adequate supply of competent people to develop, maintain and enhance the sector.
A skilled workforce is vital for meeting the challenges of an increasingly competitive global economy and particularly during this tough economic climate, where skills are the key lever for successful competition.
EU Skills commitment is to raise employer engagement, demand and investment in skills, to ensure that we have authoritative labour market information for all of our industries and to develop National Occupational Standards (NOS) to ensure that qualifications meet employer needs.
For further information about EU Skills please visit: www.euskills.co.uk
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