Young’s £1.34m funding for Grimsby operation…

YOUNG’S Seafood was awarded £1.34 million from the Regional Growth Fund to help provide training at two of its Grimsby sites.

The money was earmarked in the summer when it was thought local jobs were under threat following the loss of the Sainsbury’s processing contract to Marine Harvest. That threat has since been lifted.

However, the funding was criticised by Scottish politicians who claimed it was illegal under EU rules, suggesting it was state aid.

Council leader Ray Oxby said: ‘The food and seafood industry is part of our heritage and vital to the local economy and we’ve been working extremely hard behind the scenes to help support Young’s in their project.

‘Being able to use these funds to contribute towards the cost of up-skilling the Grimsby workforce will reap many benefits for the area.

‘Young’s will be able to retain skilled staff, offering them re-training and sustainable ongoing employment, all of which is key to our area’s future competitiveness.

‘Young’s are a key part of the local fab- ric of our community, and we want to make sure that continues for many years to come.

‘Locally, more than 5,000 people are employed in the sector, and that’s why it’s one of our key focuses for investment support.’

Pete Ward, chief executive of Young’s, said: ‘We welcome the confirmation that this funding will be made available.

‘It will complement the investment we plan to make in training and developing our staff. We would like to say thank you to all those who have been involved in making this possible.’