SOME of the region’s biggest employers have secured multi-million pound Government cash injections to help close skills gaps in key industries.

Firms such as Sembcorp, Nissan and Siemens led successful bids for a slice of the £67m being distributed nationally by the Employer Ownership Pilot (EOP).

The first round of the Department for Business £250m scheme aims to pay for 11,000 apprenticeships, 27,000 full-time training schemes, and 49,000 other opportunities for training or learning.

Sembcorp was part of a group of local firms, which included Sabic, Lotte Chemical, Huntsman Polyurethanes, Chemoxy International and Aescia Pharmaceuticals handed £3.4m, which is being matched by cash from the firms in the project. Other partners include Fujifilm, Diosynth Biotechnologies, Fine Organics and High Force Research, Nepic, Tees Valley Unlimited, the National Apprenticeship Service and a range of training providers.

It will be used to help supply chain firms recruit an additional 100 apprentices aged 16 to 18, develop a preapprenticeship programme to enable more young people to have the opportunity of an apprenticeship and implement a readiness to work programme for graduates entering the sector.

George Ritchie, a spokesman for Sembcorp, which operates on the Wilton site, Teesside , said: “The project will play a significant part in addressing the growing skills shortage in the process industries and increase and improve opportunities for apprentices, young people looking for apprenticeships and graduates throughout the supply chain.

“At the moment there are a number of barriers that are preventing supply chain companies recruiting apprentices and graduates. We want to gain a better understanding of those barriers with a view to removing them and opening up opportunities.”

Sunderland-based Nissan will use the money it secured to address skills shortages in the car industry by designing 14 training programmes for 3,000 staff within the company and at local suppliers.

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “Britain must have the skills Britain’s employers need. By giving businesses the chance to shape and set their own training agenda, we’re giving them the power to enrich their workforce with the skills needed for their future success.”

Vince Cable announced the EOP plans yesterday as he unveiled his vision for the future of British industry.

The Business Secretary said: “On a recent fact-finding trip to Germany I saw how forward-thinking companies were enjoying the benefits of training their supply chain companies, so I am particularly excited that we have received a number of bids to do the same in the UK.

“The breadth and scope of these projects show how central skills are to our long-term competitiveness, across all sectors and in all corners of the country. I am delighted these employers have taken this challenge.”

More successful bidders will be announced next month, and a further bidding round will be launched later this year.