A NEW partnership is helping bridge the skills gap in East Lancashire.

Earby Light Engineers, Pendle training and ELTEC have joined forces to develop an adult apprenticeship programme. The scheme is similar to the Modern Apprenticeship programme offered to school-leavers locally but is specifically aimed at the over-25s.

"Modern Apprenticeships are playing a vital role in equipping younger workers with essential engineering skills but there is also a pressing need to update the skills of the rest of the workforce," said Barry Mooney, product services manager at Earby Light Engineers.

As with the scheme for younger workers, adult apprentices will take part in training to update their skills and achieve a level-three NVQ. Lynx Engineering, of Barrowford, and Decorpart, of Nelson, have already signed up to take part in the ELTEC-subsidised programme.

"Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular have to boost skills levels to increase their national and international competitiveness," said Paul Heald, of ELTEC. "This new programme will help employers to achieve that."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.