Government to provide free training for small firms

Britain's new business secretary, Lord Mandelson, has promised to help small and medium-sized businesses re-train staff during the current economic downturn.

Mandelson's announcement follows research showing that firms that invest in staff training are better equipped to survive the current recession.

"We want to make sure that small businesses can get short courses for their employees," said skills secretary John Denham.

"We think that this will help hundreds of thousands of people to get skills which are proved to pay back the companies they work for," he said.

The free training packages will be available to most firms that employ less than 250 staff.