FSB Members Evening on Available Support for Neath Port Talbot Businesses

Although fairly dry, as one might expect, the FSB Swansea Bay Branch meeting on Tuesday evening 13th March at the Castle Hotel, Neath was actually very interesting.

The first  presenters were Kevin Lugg and Sarah Fowler of Neath Port Talbot council who explained about the range of services performed by the business support team.  This included help with new start ups and financing, property, health check for existing businesses and a level of practical help etc.  In particular there is a local regeneration project which aims to improve the retail experience in Neath and Port Talbot, where businesses can get a 50% grant towards modernising their shop front.  There were other schemes aimed at getting the young into work, going right across the board, also opportunities to develop the town of Port Talbot with the new £107m Harbour Way link road and associated developments - more on this at : http://www.harbourwayproject.com.  Much of the information is on their website, to which they referred continually throughout the presentation.

In addition the 2nd presentation was by Bethan Blackmore of the 'Essential Skills Project'. The Neath Port Talbot Adult Learning Network (with NPT College as the GRB and NPT Lifelong Learning Service managing the project) has been successful in securing over £847,000 in ESF funding and the contract for delivery of the Basic Skills/Essential Skills up to Level 2 in the Neath Port Talbot local authority area. Bethan explained about the Free Training Opportunities for Businesses. The provision is tailored to participants' individual needs, and course content is appropriate to the context of participants' work role and daily tasks undertaken. Flexible learning provision takes place in appropriate community venues away from the workplace. There were concerns from some members present about whether this would be a worthwhile project as with the grant presentation, given the primarily ICT focus of the training.  However, in both cases the advice is to engage with the local authority provider who will meet with you and let you know if and where they can offer any help.

The website for Neath Port Talbot is http://www.npt-business.co.uk
The website for the Essential Skills project is http://www.wtuclearn.org