The St Andrews World Class Initiative in partnership with Scottish Enterprise Fife is delighted to launch the Business Improvement Programme (BIP), which has been designed to support small to medium sized businesses operating across the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors in Fife.

The programme will run throughout December, January, February and March 2008 and is designed to help local businesses to:

1. assess their present position,
2. identify their future potential and their development needs and
3. prepare a training and development plan to help them fulfil that potential

Fife businesses participating in the Business Improvement Programme qualify for assistance of up to 50% of the cost of the training identified within the training and development plan.

One way to access the BIP is by participating a free Recruitment and Retention Audit. The Audit is a business development tool that will assist businesses to identify staff recruitment and/or retention issues and to develop strategies to deal with them. If you have difficulty finding the right staff or staff turnover is higher than you would like, this programme could be the answer. The Audit takes only an hour to complete and about half a day overall to analyse the findings of the audit and agree a training and development plan. Audits can be completed on the employer’s premises at a time to suit the demands of the business.

For further information on the Business Improvement Programme contact Carolyn Baird on 07724112954 or e-mail: carolynb@springboarduk.org.uk