The Skills Funding Agency, (SFA), is looking to procure education and training services to meet the priorities set out in the North East European Structural and Investment Funds Strategy for the North East LEP area, by utilising European Social Funding (ESF). The North East LEP area includes Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Durham.
The opportunities now open are listed below.
Access to employment and training for job seekers and inactive people - £9.4m
The focus of this activity is to improve social inclusion and mobility by encouraging people into work. It will particularly help those who are disadvantaged, but still relatively close to the labour market, to tackle their barriers to work by offering bespoke support and training.
Applications are by invitation only through the SFA’s procurement system, Bravo. The specification and associated documents can be found here
The closing date for submissions is Wednesday 3 August 2016.
Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning - £20m
There are three opportunities within this contract:
Skills support and re-training for employment - £8m.
This activity will support individuals to take up opportunities that will lead to job progression or sustained employment, including apprenticeships and self-employment. This support will be for employed individuals, individuals facing redundancy – including those individuals who are at threat of redundancy or have recently been made redundant – and individuals who are out of work and require higher level skills to gain employment.
Skills support for the workforce: intermediate and higher skills provision - £8m.
This activity will support employed individuals to overcome barriers to progress in employment and to fill intermediate, technical and higher level skills gaps and shortages faced by local businesses.
Provision to develop accredited entrepreneurial skills – up to £4m.
Supporting employed individuals to become self-employed, to start and grow a business, including social enterprises. The services should be delivered outside the learners’ normal working hours, as the focus of this activity is aimed at the learner and not the SME. It is envisaged that the package of support will be delivered on evenings and weekends.
Applications are by invitation only through the SFA’s procurement system, Bravo. The specification and associated documents can be found here
The closing date for submissions is Monday 1 August 2016.
Improving the labour market relevance of education and training systems - £4.9m
This contract will have a specific focus on SMEs and micro-businesses in the priority sectors and will:
• Connect business and education – providing activity to improve and enhance engagement between educators and businesses. The purpose of this activity is to ensure that the skills offer is adapted to meet the current and future needs of businesses and to raise awareness of local current and future job opportunities
• Support for collaborative projects – providing locally-designed work placements, internships and other activities that meet the demands of local businesses, to enable students and graduates gain industry relevant experience and skills needed to meet current and future employment demands and to be ‘job ready’.
This is an open opportunity to approved providers and will be available for viewing on Gov.UK Contracts Finder.
The closing date for submissions is Tuesday 9 August 2016.