ORGANISATIONS, ranging from television companies to lone craftsmen, museums, heritage groups and voluntary and community organisations will benefit from a new £300,000 skills development fund allocated by Yorkshire Forward

More than 40 businesses and 150 individuals in the creative, voluntary, and cultural heritage sectors of Yorkshire and Humber will benefit from improved skills as a result.

The Continuum project, led by CIDA (Creative Industries Development Agency), is to receive the cash through the skills element of the Yorkshire Forward Development Fund.

The scheme aims for the first time to pool details of new and existing training programmes from across the region for all stages of employment, including self-employment, and will fund the training of a newly expanded network of assessors to support NVQ programmes across Yorkshire.

Data on training programmes for the three sectors will be collated and combined to create a central bank of information, accessible via a dedicated website and call centre helpline. Details of all relevant NVQs and other courses will be available.

The aim of Continuum is to lure people into voluntary participation in training to the point where it leads to entry-level recruitment and eventually to attainment of further skills..

Paul Spencer, head of learning & skills at Yorkshire Forward, said: "We are delighted to be investing in these sectors in the region. This complements our package of projects approved earlier this year in a number of different sectors and takes us yet another step further towards achieving our aim of improving the skills base of the region."

Anamaria Wills, executive director, CIDA, said: "We are delighted to be working with Yorkshire Forward on this groundbreaking project. It brings together three sectors which between them make a substantial contribution to the developing economy of the Yorkshire and Humber region."

Partners working with CIDA and Yorkshire Forward towards the success of the Continuum project are Yorkshire Arts, Project 2001 and national training organisations for the culture and heritage, performing arts and community and voluntary sectors; Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation, Metier and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

The award is part of a second tranche of funding allocations from the £4.5 million investment in skills announced by Yorkshire Forward earlier this year.

Further awards of funding from the skills element of the Yorkshire Forward Development Fund will be announced shortly.