Cash available for training

More than 700 companies in Forth Valley may be eligible to access up to £15,000 for training thanks to an update to the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF).

Created by the Scottish Government in 2017 the fund has proved to be popular and with an extra £5,000 worth of training being offered this year.

FWDF is open to applications from all organisations across the private, public and third sectors in the area who pay the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy if they pay more than £3million in salaries a year.

Those who meet this criteria, are eligible to apply for vocational and professional development training offered by Forth Valley College in areas such as people skills, human resources and digital skills.

RecentlyTillicoultry Quarries accessed the fund and it is expected to allow them to train more than 100 of their staff.

The family -owned firm which employs 155 staff has 11 sites across Central Scotland, is building a strong relationship with FVC.

Tillicoultry Quarries human resources manager Sophia Marshall, who toured FVC’s Falkirk Campus recently with her colleague Health, Safety and Environmental Manager Stuart Caine, said:“As we pay the MA Levy, we were very interested to find out how we could work together to access the fund and help enhance our staff training levels.

“Accessing the FWDF will allow us to offer more training on-site to our staff and we are really excited about giving our staff a great opportunity to develop and also for us to strengthen our

Visit Tillicoultry Quarries’Sophia Marshall and Stuart Caine (front) on a tour of Forth Valley College engineering workshop by Lex Anderson, FVC Commercial Project Manager and Graham Martin FVC’s New Business Project Managerrelationship with FVC.”Jennifer Tempany, FVC’s director of business development, said:“There could be as much as £500,000 worth of funding available in the Forth Valley area and it is understood there are at least 700 firms who meet the criteria to apply.“All they need to do is contact us here at FVC and we can help them in their application to claim the training grants, which could be up to a maximum of £15,000. ”The fund can be used as part-contribution towards training of a higher cost and employers may submit only one application to the fund within the application period. To apply visit https:// www.forthvalley.ac.uk/ about-us/flexibleworkforce-developmentfund/ or contact Miles Lagan on Miles.lagan@forthvalley. ac.uk.