Businesses across the Eastern Region now have access to advice and support on a full range of training opportunities available at all our best providers, including Further Education Colleges and Universities. i10 in partnership with Train to Gain are ready to assist with almost any training or skills issue facing employers looking to remain competitive in today's fast-moving economic world.

Train to Gain is a new service to help businesses get the training they need to succeed. Employers around the region, even those who would not normally think about training, are seeing the results and getting behind the service. Over 5,000 employers in the Eastern Region, have signed up for the free Skills Brokerage service, since it started last year.

According to the National Audit Office, skills gaps cost a typical 50 employee business £165,000 in lost revenue each year and skills are seen as a critical factor in improving productivity in England.

Skills Brokers are a key element of Train to Gain. Working with employers to identify their training needs, Brokers source suitable courses and agree a tailored training package. In a recent survey, employers particularly rated the Skills Brokers' ability to steer them through the sometimes complex sources of funding.

The White Horse pub in Bedford used Train to Gain to help identify and source hospitality-related training courses for the pub's award-winning team. The pub is managed by Nigel and Sue Anstead and employs 20 staff in a mix of full-time and part-time roles.

Sue said: "One of the main benefits of using the Train to Gain programme is the time it has saved us. If we hadn't used the programme I would have had to look up all the courses myself which would have meant spending valuable time away from my business."

The White Horse has recently been awarded several different accolades including Business Personality of the Year in the Bedford and Luton Business Excellence Awards 2006 and Anglia's Best Bar Team and Best Managed House in the Morning Advertiser Pub Awards 2007. Nigel and Sue believe that successful training of their staff is all part of the pub's winning format!

Fourteen members of staff at the Oulton Park Care Centre in Oulton, near Lowestoft, have already enrolled on valuable training courses with help from Train to Gain.

Oulton Park Care Centre Training Co-ordinator Sarah Morgan said: "The Train to Gain programme has been extremely beneficial both in helping to organise the training needed and in sourcing any funding required. Their help and advice has been invaluable."

In working together on such cases, our aim is to be able to give sound and practical advice to employers, or to be able to refer them on to a colleague with specialist knowledge. From the i10 perspective, this covers University provision in areas such as Post-Graduate courses, Continual Professional Development (CPD) programmes, workshops and seminars and Foundation Degrees.

This new service now means that we shall be able to offer a seamless service for the region's businesses across a range of education, training, CPD and workshop provision, with the possibility of progression and continuity at all levels, and perhaps provide a model for other regions to follow.

For more information on Train to Gain, visit www.traintogain.gov.uk or call 0800 387326.