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Food and Drink Industry, Improve Ltd Funding Contract

As a Sector Skills Council (SSC) Improve Ltd has a funding contract with the Commission for Employment and Skills (CES), an Executive Agency of Government, which provides all SSCs with a guaranteed level of annual grant funding for the period of their contract.

The grant funding provided through this contract is not intended by Government to cover all necessary running costs of an SSC. All SSCs are expected to also seek funding from other sources, in order to be able to deliver the remit given to them by Government and address specific skills issues within the sector the SSC is responsible for.

Additional funding sources anticipated by Government include:

• Regional Development Agencies in England.
• Relevant Government agencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Government departments responsible for the economic sector the SSC is licensed to represent.
• Qualifications regulatory authorities in each nation.
• Sector employer bodies.
• Individual employers within the SSCs sector.

SSCs are also able to pursue surplus generating projects as an income stream, regardless of whether those projects support the business plan. However, Improve Limited has made the deliberate decision not to seek projects (or funding) unless there is a direct fit with the strategic skills needs of the food and drink industry.

Project activity is therefore only undertaken if it fits with the strategic skills needs, with appropriate grant funding sourced on a case by case basis.