Training firmly on track at Thornton engineering firm

Thornton-based engineering firm Allan J Hargreaves has invested in up-skilling its workforce thanks to help from a £5.6m skills programme being delivered across the county.

The firm, which repairs and maintains construction plant machinery and lifting equipment, has received help from Lancashire Skills Support for the Workforce (LSS) to enable 15 of its staff to access on-site engineering training.

14 members of the team have completed training to enable the safe operation and moving of plant equipment, while another staff member is completing a leadership and management qualification. The training was delivered by Myerscough College.

Allan Hargreaves, who owns the firm, said: “It’s fantastic that we have been able to deliver this training on site with help from Myerscough College and funding from Lancashire Skills Support.

“The training has allowed us to increase our efficiency and increase the number of team members who can safely move and operate various machines. The training received was perfect and conveniently delivered on site to our exact business needs.”

Andrea Gardner, Enterprise Manager at Myerscough College said: “We are offering training that will directly help any skills gaps businesses may have.

“The team conduct a full training needs analysis to see exactly what needs they have and try to address these. It’s great that our training can have such a direct impact on the business and its efficiency at this busy time of year.”

LSS will support 3,817 employees aged 19 and over who are working in small or medium sized businesses and have a workforce of up to 250 employees. It will run until July 2015 – with places allocated to businesses on a first-come, first-served basis. The fund operates across the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area, which consists of Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen local authorities.

Further information is also available on the dedicated website www.lancashireskillssupport.co.uk

ENDS.

For further information, contact:

Andrew Taylor or Simon Turner, Freshfield
01772 888400 / [email protected] / [email protected]

Stephen Axon, communications service, Lancashire County Council
01772 533 194 / [email protected]  

Notes to editors:

Lancashire Skills Support for the Workforce (LSS) is a £5.6m programme delivered by some of the county's leading training providers and managed by Lancashire County Council. LSS gives businesses in the Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen local authority areas the opportunity to access free accredited workplace training.

The £5.6m funding has been awarded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and was commissioned on behalf of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). LSS will support 3,817 employees aged 19 and over who are working in small or medium sized businesses with a workforce of up to 250 employees. It will run until July 2015 – with places allocated to businesses on a first-come first-served basis.

Training available through the scheme will be flexible to meet the needs of the business and will include a mix of basic and higher level skills, leadership and management while also offering technical, specialist qualifications.

LSS delivery partners currently comprises Accrington and Rossendale College, Age UK Lancashire, Blackburn College, Blackpool and the Fylde College, Burnley College, Joint Learning, Lancashire Adult Learning, Lancaster and Morecambe College, Myerscough College, Nelson and Colne College, Preston's College, West Lancashire College, and VIA Partnership.