£3.7m boost for skills training provision at college

The Sheffield College is to receive £3.7m to support the development of its skills training capacity.

The Mayoral Combined Authority, which is chaired by Mayor and MP Dan Jarvis, granted the money at the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority meeting.

Jarvis said: “This is a great example of the Mayoral Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) using our resources to make significant improvements to education, skills and training in the Sheffield City Region.

“The Sheffield College is an important education and training provider, uniquely placed for unlocking the skills and talent within learners in our region. The grant will directly help nearly 6,000 learners in the coming years, who will move into employment, benefiting hundreds of businesses across the region.”

The grant from the Government’s Local Growth Fund to The Sheffield College will go towards its £4.6m scheme to work in collaboration with the private sector to develop skills training capacity at three sites; the Olive Grove engineering training centre, the Liberty Specialty Steel engineering training centre, and the CTL workplace training facility.

The funding will pay for refurbishment and new equipment to increase the college’s technical training offer across engineering and digital technology, with the scheme set to directly support 5,800 new learners.

Angela Foulkes, Chief Executive and Principal at The Sheffield College, said: “We’re delighted to be able to invest in our facilities thanks to this funding, as we roll out a series of exciting new employer academies.

“Our students will work closely with industry experts to get the skills to go further in education, employment and their careers, and that are urgently needed by regional employers within high growth sectors.”

The Local Growth Fund (LGF) is Government cash awarded to LEPs for projects that benefit the local area and economy.

By 2021 the Government will have invested over £12bn through the fund. There are 38 LEPs covering the whole of England, which are investing LGF money in a range of projects including transport, skills, business support, broadband, innovation and flood defences.