EMPLOYERS and managers in York will be shown throughout next month how to improve their workforce’s skills – and help them through the recession.

As part of the council’s One City campaign, Learning City York, the city’s lifelong learning partnership, is co-ordinating activities to shine the spotlight on skills.

There is a range of free workshops, talks, events and taster sessions throughout next month, supported by funding from Yorkshire Forward, City of York Council and Higher York (the partnership of University of York, York St John University, York College and Askham Bryan College).

All will be designed to provide access to help, advice and funding for skills and training.

On June 4, there will be a Support for Businesses exhibition, from 9am to 5pm, at The Hospitium, in Museum Gardens.

It will include one-hour Skills Safaris, at 9.15am and 1pm, when employers and managers can have a whistle-stop tour of the business benefits of initiatives like Train to Gain, apprenticeships, graduate interns and subsidised continuous professional development.

They will also learn about the latest support for those businesses forced to make redundancies.

A three-hour business leaders event, entitled Unlocking York’s Talent, will also be held at The Hospitium, from 4.30pm.

Cyrus Todiwala, celebrity chef and owner of the award winning Café Spice Namaste Restaurant group and Asian Cuisine training school in London, Mark Andrews, the chief executive of NG Bailey, and John McNamara, chief executive of the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, will share their wisdom on training in the workplace.

More than £100 million is available in Yorkshire to support employers and individuals with skills and training.

The most recent funding to come into the York has been £600,000 secured by Higher York (the partnership of Higher Education Institutions in York) to provide subsidised training and consultancy for local businesses.

Continual improvement of the city’s skills profile, as well as attracting and retaining a talented workforce, is seen as important if York is to maintain its position among the UK’s more successful cities and emerge from the economic storm.

Learning City York and City of York Council are working closely with partners across the city to ensure that the benefit of the existing support, services and funding available to local employers is targeted appropriately to help create the right conditions for businesses in York.

As part of the Spotlight on Skills campaign, there is also a series of free personal and professional development workshops and tasters running throughout the city during June, culminating in York’s annual Learning Festival at the end of the month.

To find out more and book for the talks and workshops visit www.york.gov.uk/onecity