Business Support.pdfGeneral
Prime Minister Praises Manchester After Conference Success
26 September 2008
As the Labour Party Annual conference comes to an end the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has praised the event
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There are a number of agencies that can offer free advice and support for example Visit Manchester. Visit Manchester, the Tourist Board for Greater Manchester run a variety of initiatives from year to year. One of Visit Manchester’s key roles is to service the industry, supporting tourism businesses throughout Greater Manchester. The organisation works with employers to improve the standard of the tourism product offered within the city-region. A range of subsidised initiatives and programmes are co-ordinated by the tourism development team. For further information on Visit Manchester initiatives please contact either Mark Wisbey, Business Support Executive at Visit Manchester, on 0161 238 4555, email: mark.wisbey@visitmanchester.com or Joanne Wight, Skills & Quality Executive, on 0161 238 4581, email: joanne.wight@visitmanchester.com
Part of Visit Manchester's role as the Tourist Board for Greater Manchester is to work closely with tourism businesses in order to strengthen them.
Current initiatives include the 'Profit through Productivity' programme, where Visit Manchester has teamed up with some of the UK tourism industry's main employer associations to help businesses become more profitable, productive and competitive.
This exciting initiative is subsidised by Visit Manchester, and the NWDA together with significant funding from the European Regional Development Fund. A limited number of places are now available to members on a first-come, first-served basis, you can get all this for only £99 + vat. It would normally cost over £5,000!
Developed by the Best Practice Forum with employers across the tourism sector, the 'Profit Through Productivity' programme gives you the chance to benefit from one-to-one visits from a specialist tourism business coach who will help you identify and address specific business issues relevant to your operation.
A similar programme in Cumbria led to 68 tourism businesses increasing their profits by an average of £31,000 per business!
The programme also includes a confidential benchmarking activity, which allows you to see how your business measures up against the competition and best practice. In addition, you are also invited to attend a series of special 'best practice workshops' at local venues tailored for the needs of Manchester tourism businesses.
The 'Profit Through Productivity' programme is made up of 8 key stages, including seminars, 1:1 site visits, specialist clinics, best practice workshops and visits.
This is a great opportunity for businesses in the region to take advantage of a unique venture, providing training from high skilled and extremely knowledgeable professionals. The highly subsidised rate makes this accessible to businesses of all sizes.
For further information please contact Mark Wisbey by email mark.wisbey@visitmanchester.com or telephone (0161) 238 4555.
Train to Gain provides a new service from the Learning & Skills Council to help businesses get the training they need to succeed.
Train to Gain will:
- Provide you with completely impartial, free advice to identify the skills your business needs
- Make recommendations about the most suitable training providers and support services available
- Help you get the best value for money from your investment in training, including helping you source available funding
Train to Gain provides access to funded training for eligible employees: Free training to help employees gain their first, full level 2 qualification, including statutory qualifications A wide range of training for low-skilled staff, including approved Basic Skills qualifications at level 2 Some funding for training to help employees gain a level 3 qualification or for non-qualification-based training Companies with less than 50 employees may be eligible for a contribution towards wage costs, to cover the cost of time spent in training.
Train to Gain can access training for a wide range of sectors, including:
- Business administration
- Retail
- Construction
- Warehousing
- Manufacturing
- Engineering
- ICT
- Customer service
- Call centre skills
- Financial services and insurance
- Adult care
- Hospitality & tourism
- Basic skills – literacy, numeracy
Train to Gain offers training that is flexible, responsive to your needs and offered at a time and place to suit you - many companies choose to carry out training on their own premises. By ensuring your employees have the right skills to do the best job they can, Train to Gain can really make a difference - over 27,000 businesses have already benefited from training programmes such as these. To find out more, contact 0845 602 0062 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm or email information@traintogainnw.org. All emails will receive a response within 48 hours. Web site www.traintogain.gov.uk
BusinessLink provides a simple to use business support, advice and information service nationally funded by the government. They are dedicated to helping new and existing businesses develop and grow through the provision of impartial and insightful access to the broadest range of business information and advice. For further information go to www.businesslinknw.co.uk, info@businesslinknw.co.uk or call 0845 006 6888.
Learndirect Business offers a wide range of courses and services that help you and your staff find the time and the resources to train. For further details go to http://www1.learndirect-business.com/