THE employment, skills and enterprise branch of Serco has been selected to deliver a programme in support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Gloucestershire.

The business has been selected by the Skills Funding Agency to deliver two new Skills Support for the Workforce (SSW) contracts, providing training to help upskill the workforce of the county’s SMEs.

Under the 18-month programme, Serco will work in partnership with GFirst LEP to support growth by providing basic skills training, including literacy and numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), employment skills such as communication and team working, and vocationally specific qualifications. Intermediate and higher level training will also be available.

including IT, leadership and management training, as well as vocationally-relevant courses will also be available, targeting areas of improvement relating to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), or Low Carbon.