From the DfEE press release:-

Looking Back on the 1998 Round nearly 1,100 ESF Objective 4 projects worth over £40 million have been approved in 1998.

The Employment Minister Andrew Smith said, "I am delighted that so many projects have been successful in the first ever ESF Objective 4 programme in Great Britain." He added, "Objective 4 will help to develop new ways of anticipating future skill requirements. It will thereby support the Government's efforts to make sure that our training programmes are directed at people who are most in need and who will benefit the most."

Objective 4 gives support for projects which help to facilitate the adaptation of workers to industrial change. It focuses on those employees threatened with unemployment, affected by industrial change or changes in production. In 1999, nearly £120 million will be available across the English regions, Scotland and Wales. There will also be national projects.

The Objective 4 programme is based on three main strands of activity:

* anticipation of the effects of industrial change on the labour market trends and their implications for training trends
* training that responds to the changing demands of the labour market with an emphasis on using IT and new technologies to produce multi-skilled workers with transferable skills
* networking and dissemination of good practice to enhance the development of new and improved approaches to training.