05/11/2009

Grahame welcomes £75 a week to save Borders 'at risk' apprentices

Borders apprentices facing the threat of redundancy have been thrown a lifeline by the Scottish Government who have announced that small and medium businesses in the Borders will provide employers with £75 a week for eligible apprentices to safeguard their jobs. SNP MSP Christine Grahame welcomed the announcement and said:

“The Scottish Government's 'Safeguard an Apprentice' scheme will provide employers with £75 a week for eligible apprentices until 31 March 2010.
"I strongly believe that in order to ensure that our economy continues to be competitive in a global market over the next few years we need to invest now in people who can develop the skills that we will need in the future.
"It is clear that this Scottish Government is committed to doing everything it can to help Borderers in this current economic climate and ScotAction is the Scottish Government's skills support package for providing real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

“The Scottish Government, with European Social Fund support, will provide employers in the Borders with £75 a week to help towards the wage costs of these apprentices so that they can continue in their training.

“Small companies in the Scottish Borders that may be struggling to keep their heads above water will benefit directly from this funding and it may make the difference as to whether or not they keep on apprentices.

“So I would urge small and medium size businesses in the Construction, Engineering and Manufacturing sectors who think that they may have to let their apprentices go to contact Skills Development Scotland for more information.”

END

Background

1. ScotAction is an integrated package combining new and improved measures to help individuals and businesses through the recession and will provide skills assistance - including wage subsidies in some circumstances -  for training for work, training in work and training from work to work to help Scottish people and businesses survive the downturn and thrive when the economy starts to recover.

2. Through ScotAction, the Scottish Government has announced much support for the Apprenticeship Programme over the last few months. We have made £16 million available for an additional 7,800 Modern Apprentices. £6 million has been made available to fund an additional 1,000 apprentices in Glasgow over the next 3 years to support the Commonwealth Games legacy, we have funded 50 apprentices in the Creative Sector and announced funding for 100 apprenticeships for Home Energy and Efficiency in partnership with Scottish and Southern Energy. We have also announced that a new apprenticeship framework for the Life Science industry has now been developed to support the growth of one of our key sectors in Scotland. In June the First Minister announced that the Government would fund 2 for 1 Life Science Apprenticeships. The Cabinet Secretary also announced the 'Adopt An Apprentice' scheme where employers can receive a helping hand of £2000  to employ a redundant apprentice and the Government has also introduced an additional 170 early years modern apprenticeships. In August the Cabinet Secretary also announced funding for 2000 Mas for the retail sector. Just last week the Cabinet Secretary announced a £2000 financial incentive for SMEs to take on a new apprentice in the manufacturing, textiles, food and drink and energy sectors.

3. Skills Development Scotland, Scotland's national skills agency, will play a leading role in taking forward the delivery of the initiatives that ScotAction will deliver for Scotland at
this time.

4. For more information contact Skills Development Scotland on 0808 100 1855

SNP It’s time.....