Productivity Boost for Small Businesses in South West & Central Wales

Small businesses in South West and Central Wales will benefit from stronger leadership and entrepreneurship skills to improve their overall productivity, thanks to a UK government-backed project which received the green light today. Under the programme, the Regional Learning Partnership South West and Central Wales (RLP) will work with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) to pilot new ways to boost the leadership of small businesses.

This project will develop more effective engagement with SMEs and Micro Businesses whilst signposting them to the support that is available. It will form a pilot group of small employers to co-create and test new ways of reaching small businesses in the region. Existing support will be mapped out and tested to challenge its relevance and appropriateness for small businesses.

Barry Liles, Chairman of the RLP Strategy Group, stated “We are very excited at the opportunities presented by this award of significant funding from the UK Futures Programme. This reinforces the on-going work of the RLP to create the right skills provision and learning opportunities to meet the needs of the region’s economy and labour market. All the evidence suggests that improving leadership and entrepreneurship skills in SMEs is the key to supporting small businesses to build capacity and improve productivity within our region.”

Paul Greenwood, Chairman of the RLP’s Strategic Employers Reference Group, added “This will provide more flexible opportunities for employers to invest in skills and support business to achieve their growth potential. Co-producing solutions will give employers greater ownership of skills development, a vital component of competitive advantage”

The project is one of 8 that have been selected as part of the UK Futures Programme, run by the UKCES. Each is trialling innovative ways to improve the productivity of small businesses in their local community by boosting their leadership and entrepreneurship skills. In particular the projects will identify new ways to help small businesses who have not previously had any leadership or entrepreneurial training. There will be opportunities for the RLP to collaborate with the 8 projects.
Julie Kenny CBE DL, founder of Pyronix Ltd, a leading small business in the security sector, and Commissioner at UKCES commented: “Small businesses form the backbone of the UK economy. Yet constraints on their time and resources mean they are the least likely to develop the leadership and management skills that will help them grow.

“Owner managers and senior leaders of small companies need to spend their time and money wisely, and see clear benefits from the start. Current training programmes are often too broad or vague to be usefully applied in the real world. Simply gaining access to good programmes can also be difficult – for instance if you operate in a more rural area.

“We need new ways to reach these businesses, and we need solutions that are relevant to each small firm. The anchor institutions we will be working with have demonstrated a strong understanding of the specific issues that small businesses face in their local community.
They have also shown that they have the ability to reach out to businesses who often find themselves excluded from national programmes.”

Each project represents a joint investment with UKCES, with organisations investing in cash, in-kind, or both, alongside a maximum government contribution of £200,000 per project. The total government contribution is £1.3 million.

For more information visit www.gov.uk/ukces