Government invests £2.4 million in training ad campaign
By Elizabeth Eyre (12-11-2008)
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Train to Gain has ploughed £2.4 million into an advertising campaign in a bid to highlight the importance of training to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the recession.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which runs Train to Gain, a free service offering funding, support and advice to companies to train and develop their employees, has announced its plans to promote the benefits of training to SMEs during the economic downturn.
The three-week-long television and radio advertising campaign will run during peak slots this month.
The Train to Gain service has helped more than 570,000 people improve their skills since its launch in 2006. John Denham, skills secretary, last month outlined the government's commitment to helping small businesses in particular to benefit. He said that SMEs would be the focus of £350 million of government funds to help them train their staff.
More recently, he said: "Investing in training is essential to any business but it is more important than ever in the current economic climate. Research shows that companies that don't train are two and a half times more likely to fail than those who do. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, but don't always have the time or resources to find out about the support that is available to help them thrive.
“This campaign will ensure that no small business that needs support misses out. We're making it quicker and easier to build the skills and expertise of people in the small business community, and making small business the focus of the £350 million support package."
The new key elements of the Train to Gain package aimed at SMEs include funding for small modules of qualifications in subjects such as business improvement, team-working, customer service and risk management. The government has also said that it will extend the leadership and management programme so that more SMEs can benefit from it, including businesses with between five to ten workers. Furthermore, it has said that it will relax the rules to allow workers to get relevant training at the GCSE stage (level two), even if they already have a previous qualification at this level, and put even more funding into training for level three, which would be equivalent to two A-levels.
Chris Banks, chairman of the Learning and Skills Council, said: "Now more than ever our work is critical to companies for whom well-trained staff are more important than ever.
“So far, more than 100,000 businesses have benefitted from the Train to Gain package that will enable even more employers to get support for training at this difficult time, so I urge employers large or small to get in touch so they can take full advantage of the help available."
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Added Wednesday, 19 November, 2008, 22:33
Great article, it is a shame that trainers are being offered up to £400 to put one person through a full level three programme, that can take up to 35 hours contact time, so less than £10 per hour. So the question is, what is the quality of the assessors and consequently the value of the qualification awarded? On paper this looks well funded, the reality is very different.