THE West Midlands Learning and Skills Councils has launched the latest bidding round in its scheme to help boost the skills of individuals throughout Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

The latest funding, which is worth £39m across the West Midlands, will be granted specifically to projects looking to help certain groups, including young people aged from 14 to 16, people claiming incapacity benefit, the unemployed - particularly those aged over 45, those at immediate risk of redundancy and unemployed migrant workers and refugees.

The funding is part of the LSC's regional co-financing programme in the West Midlands, which is looking to boost the economy and cut unemployment by helping to boost job prospects for people in its area, which includes Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

Sarah Tulk, regional manager for the LSC, said it was easier than ever to apply for the funding thanks to the unique regional co-financing appro-ach. This cuts red tape and provides projects with 100 per cent funding without the need to apply elsewhere. Ms Tulk said: "The programme is one year old now and we have seen some fantastic projects benefiting from the funding available and they are already producing good results.

"It is well known that industry is facing a skills shortage across virtually all sectors and these projects are looking to give people the skills they need to plug that gap.

"This latest bidding round will feature streamlined pro-cesses to make it easier than ever for organisations and projects to apply for funding. We have an initial expression of interest stage, which will allow us to establish if a project addresses the published criteria before requesting full applications."

This tendering round will be followed by two more in 2006, which will be launched in March and April.

The LSC Regional Co-Financing programme laun-ched in January 2005 and in the first 12 months, £14m was contracted in Birmingham and Solihull, more than £14m in both the Black Country and Coventry and Warwickshire, more than £10m in Herefordshire and Worcester-shire, and just under £7m in Staffordshire.

For more details about how to apply for the funding visit the www.westmidlandsworkingtogether.org.uk website and click on the 'bidding rounds' tab.