Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much new funding has been given to SMEs across the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to develop their workforces since the publication of the Long-Term Economic Plan for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire in February 2015.

Anna Soubry

The Leeds City Region Skills Service has, to date, supported 620 businesses, with 3,300 pieces of training completed and 1,595 more underway. The value of this support to SMEs is £2.12m.

In 2016/17 the Skills Service is expected to support skills diagnostics for 800 businesses, help 1,100 SMEs to offer apprenticeships and upskill 5,600 employees.

Grants between £500 and £50,000 are available to match business investments in workforce training.