Skills boost for Scotland with European funding for workers

Thousands of people are to be given the opportunity to improve skills through training programmes paid for by new European funds.

The £30m social fund will pay for work or training in 73 projects across Scotland and is expected to benefit around 30,000 people, the Scottish Government announced yesterday.

Education secretary Michael Russell said: “Scotland has now emerged from the recession, and while our position in terms of employment rates and economic inactivity remains better than the UK average, the challenges clearly remain.

“The Scottish Government, through our economic recovery plan, is doing all we can to stimulate the economy, create and safeguard jobs and support business.”

The money has been shared among colleges, councils and trusts that run skills programmes.

Projects to help people with learning or physical difficulties and young people leaving care will also receive a portion of the cash pot.

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Jacqui Hepburn, director of the Alliance for Sector Skills Scotland, welcomed the money, and said: “If we are to continue to recover from recession, skills must form a key element of Scotland’s recovery programme.”

In March, Personnel Today reported how skills shortages remain a worrying issue for many UK companies despite millions of people being unemployed.