Skills and training
Over £9m has been dedicated to increasing workforce skills over
the lifetime of the programme. This theme offers training and
knowledge transfer to all adults dealing with agriculture, food and
forestry businesses; and adults in rural areas employed in
businesses, social enterprises, charities and other formally
constituted groups that have strong links with farming or forestry
or are involved in increasing the adoption of renewable energy in
rural areas.
Training is being made available through colleges and other
training organisations – individuals are not eligible to apply for
training grants directly for themselves. This is to make sure
that any training funded through RDPE fits in with other training
programmes such as Train to Gain.
The Vocational Training Scheme
At the moment, RDPE is supporting the Vocational Training
Scheme, which runs until July 2010. This scheme helps business gain
access to training that will enhance business performance and
profitability. It also runs events ranging from on-farm
training in animal health and welfare issues to bringing
world-class speakers to the south west. Events are available across
the South West Region with about 100 training events per month
operating during peak times. Most of the training activities
are in “bite-sized” pieces, recognising that small businesses in
rural areas often find it difficult to commit larger blocks of time
away from their main business.
To find out more, or suggest a particular theme or location for
a training activity, please contact the Rural Business School (RBS) on
0845 458 7485.
Next steps
In May 2009 we completed an extensive consultation with
businesses based in rural areas, farmers and other key
stakeholders, which resulted in a new RDPE - Skills
Development Framework. This sets out our Skills and
Training priorities for the remainder of the programme to
December 2013. In brief, the three main priorities are:
- Business development and strategic change management
- Operational efficiency and technical skills
- Adding value and diversification
We are currently looking at opportunities to provide grant
support to a single operator to deliver the priorities identified
within the skills framework with a programme of activity worth just
less than £5m.