LEP awards £11m to fund hundreds of new training places and apprenticeships

Almost £11m has been announced to fund a further significant expansion in training places and apprenticeships in key sectors of Lancashire’s economy.

The funding, agreed by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will contribute to nine projects worth over £34m across Lancashire.

This is the second round of a £30m investment of Growth Deal Skills funding by the LEP for training facilities across Lancashire.

The funds will contribute £524,000 towards Blackpool and the Fylde College’s £1.5m project which aims to provide high quality and flexible learning spaces for business-led provision and £670,000 towards a £1.3m partnership between Lancaster University and BAE Systems to set up an Advanced Manufacturing Centre for Skills Development and Employer Engagement featuring state of the art equipment at the University Lancaster Campus and the BAE Systems Training Centre at Samlesbury.

The growing demand for skilled workers in creative and digital industries has encouraged the LEP to invest £125,000 in a £320,000 Centre of Excellence for Digital Technology and Innovation at Accrington and Rossendale College, £3m towards the £13m cost of a Technology Hub at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, and £200,000 towards the £510,000 cost of enhancing IT and digital facilities at Runshaw College, enhancing the learner experience at both the Leyland and Euxton campuses.

Around £2.5m will be invested in an £8.6m Health and Social Care Teaching Hub at the University of Cumbria's Lancaster campus.

Dr Michele Lawty-Jones said: “Employers have told us that they will need more skilled employees in a number of key areas over the coming years if their businesses are to grow to their full potential.

“A skilled workforce is a crucial part of our ambitious strategic growth programme to transform the the county’s economy over the next decade, creating tens of thousands of new jobs and driving economic growth.”