Welcome to Skills Bridge

Your "Easy access to workforce development"

This site aims to provide up-to-date information on:

• National, regional and sub-regional developments and priorities in publicly-funded workforce development and how these affect provision in Bradford
• Developments in the Bradford economy, which will have an impact on supply and demand for skills
• Accessing publicly-funded training provision in Bradford

SKILLS BRIDGE - UPDATE MARCH 2006

Learning Connectivity funding for Skills Bridge came to end in March 2005. Since then, the project has been funded through Bradford Learning Partnership and, since January 2006, by funding received from Yorkshire Forward. Skills Bridge has been maintained throughout this period as a skeleton project, pending the results of the Sub-Regional Investment Planning (SRIP) commissioning process.

Although the 'hiatus' in funding meant that some of the planned developments could not be moved forward, progress has been made during the year. As part of the Learning Connectivity remit, with its links to Regeneration, work continued through Bradford Council (BMDC) to pilot a WYTAPs Geographical Information System (GIS). This linked the WYTAPs database to the Skills Bridge website, enabling users to easily identify a range of information on Bradford-based training. The GIS was trialled by Skills Bridge partners in late 2005 and commended as a useful development tool with many potential benefits. More information about the GIS pilot is available by clicking here.

Funding received from Yorkshire Forward in January 2006, taking the project through until March 2006, has been used to update the Skills Bridge website so that Skills Bridge partners and others may continue to access information about the many developments taking place in publicly-funded Workforce Development nationally, regionally and locally.

Unfortunately the project was not successful in tendering, through LSC West Yorkshire, for Investment Planning funds. This was as a result of some overlap with new developments on the National Employers Training Programme (NETP). Skills Bridge partners remain committed to a need for a single co-ordination unit for Workforce Development in Bradford and it has been agreed that the project will continue with local funding; albeit not from an office base but primarily through this website.

We hope you will continue to find the Skills Bridge website useful and informative. Further updates about the Skills Bridge project and developments will continue to be posted on this website - watch this space!