CLOSED: Strengthening links to address skills & workforce development in GCGP - OC13S19P1437

Call to run a project to increase levels of skilled and employable workers available to support local economy, to drive change in skills funding and commissioning system to enable education and training provision to better meet the needs of local businesses.

This call is now closed. Please do not submit an application for this call. The information provided on this page is for reference purposes only.

Details

The GCGP ESIF Strategy identifies that there is a widespread mismatch between skills supply and business demand across much of the area. There is a need for actions aimed at increasing the levels of skilled and employable workers available to support our economy, to drive change in the skills funding and commissioning system to enable education and training provision to better meet the needs of local businesses. This will be achieved by working with enterprises, education and training providers and businesses to help ensure provision meets local needs. Projects should provide a range of engagement activities aimed at enabling more SMEs to offer apprenticeships and work experience opportunities. Therefore, this call is seeking proposals to deliver skills support for business including, but not limited to, the following actions:

  • Development of a ‘skills talent and apprenticeship hub’ including a digital talent portal with apprenticeship brokerage services to connect employers, providers and learners;
  • The development of geographical apprenticeship hubs in each Local Authority area across the GCGP area linked with a central skills talent and apprenticeship hub;
  • Support for the recruitment of apprenticeships;
  • Brokerage to support skills levy pooling across value chains;
  • Driving apprenticeships through Apprentice Ambassador Scheme and targeted Brokerage Services;
  • T-Level industry placements (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-t-levels/introduction-of-t-levels) for further information;
  • Employer engagement including employer engagement in schools bringing in businesses that have not offered apprenticeships or work experience before and those that offered opportunities in the past but no longer do so;
  • Work readiness programme;
  • Advice and guidance on providing opportunities for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups within the labour market;
  • Mentoring and support for individuals and business throughout the duration of an apprenticeship through high quality information, advice and guidance (IAG);
  • Actions to enable skills provision is matched to industry need;
  • Sector focussed actions in sectors such as Construction and Health and Social Care alongside identified key sectors in the area.

Proposals should take into account that the CPCA (Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority) Business Board area currently has a policy-driven focus on the following priority sectors:

• Agriculture and Food (Agri-tech);

• Life Sciences;

• IT and Digital;

• Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing and Materials;

• Logistics and Distribution; Education and Professional Services.

Consultations have also underlined the importance of enabling sectors, which are important in the context of demographic projections and supporting the delivery of physical development, such as regeneration, infrastructure and house building programmes. These sectors are:

• Health and Social Care

• Construction

For more information, download the call specification.

Location

The project must cover the Greater Cambridgeshire, Greater Peterborough Business Board Area

Value

Approximately £ 2,342,797 of ESF is available.

Deadlines

Full application deadline: 20/08/19

Completion date

Projects must be completed no later than 3 years and 6 months after the proposed project start date, however the ESF Managing Authority reserves the right to vary the maximum duration in exceptional circumstances. All ESF Projects must be completed by 31st December 2023. Project costs cannot be incurred beyond this date.

Full Application Submission

To apply for funding under this call you will need to complete and submit your Full Application via the ECLAIMS IT System.
Full Applications submitted in the ECLAIMS IT System after the call closing date shown above and on the call specification will not be appraised.

If you do not already have access to the ECLAIMS IT system, please request an ‘ECLAIMS External Access Form’ by emailing [email protected]

You will need to request an External Access Form for each person in your organisation who requires access.

It is your responsibility to ensure you request and activate your ECLAIMS access in sufficient time. We strongly advise that you obtain and activate your ECLAIMS access at least 2 weeks prior to the advertised call closure date, if not sooner.

You are also advised to read the details in the call specification in order to produce an application that complies with the requirements and meets the needs set out in the ESF Operational Programme. All this information, the related guidance and the European Social Fund Operational Programme can be found from our homepage. The published ESF Online Full Application Guidance also provides step-by-step advice on how to complete your Full Application using the ECLAIMS IT system. ESF Online Full Application Guidance. ## Technical Support

If you encounter any technical difficulties completing or submitting your Full Application via the ECLAIMS IT system, please send an email to [email protected]

The technical support operating hours are Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm and it is your responsibility to ensure you seek and technical advice in sufficient time to complete and submit your Full Application before the published call closure date.

The Managing Authority reserves the right to reject applications which are incomplete or not submitted in a timely and compliant way.

Contact details

If you have any questions about the Call Specification or ESF Online Full Application Guidance, please contact [email protected]. This address should not be used to request technical support.

Updates to this page

Published 31 May 2019
Last updated 3 September 2019 + show all updates
  1. Strengthening links to address skills & workforce development in GCGP - OC13S19P1437

  2. First published.