SKILLSET WINS £200K FOR INDUSTRY IN LONDON

THE LONDON Development Agency has awarded Skillset a grant of nearly £200,000 to invest on a number of training initiatives across London.
Some of the money will be used to repeat the highly successful Runners careers event which attracted over 200 Runners earlier this year.
The London Development Agency is responsible for the economic development of London and has awarded Skillset this money from its Skills Development Fund recognising that media is a key growth sector in the region.
As well as two new events aimed at Runners, a pre-entry scheme to encourage those from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter the industry will also be piloted by freelance training provider FT2. An innovative Training Provider Network will be established to promote communications between the industry and training providers from both Further and Higher Education, and the private sector. Lastly, some of the investment will be used to offer Training Needs Analyses and subsidised training to freelancers from groups under represented in the industry`s workforce. The new media industry careers service, skillsformedia, will operate this initiative.
Dinah Caine, Chief Executive of Skillset, said: "This high level of investment goes to show the continuing economic importance of the audio-visual industries in the capital and the realisation that investment in skills must take place if this growth is to be sustainable. This funding will allow us to carry out a number of significant new projects on the ground and two of them will, importantly, broaden access to employment in our sector."
Michael Ward, Chief Executive of London Development Agency, said: "We are pleased to be able to support this exciting and innovative project. It provides vital workforce development in a key sector to the London economy and boosts the chances of young ethnic minority Londoners entering the industry".
(GB)