'Bid together for EU training aid'.

WORK based training providers across Wales are being urged to pull together to make a bid for money from the European Convergence fund to address specific business training and development needs.

The call comes from Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, director of research and innovation at the University of Wales, who said businesses and training providers had not been properly consulted about how EU funds were spent in Wales.

Only 32 % of the Objective 1 budget in Wales had been geared to skills and training, but this had increased to 40% from the successor Convergence Fund.

The National Training Federation for Wales (NTFW)was ideally placed to identify the training requirements of Welsh businesses, he said.

Financial services, retail and construction, sectors which had seen massive growth over the last four years, would be hardest hit by the recession.

"They will require different types of training: you will need to be creative about what you offer," added Prof Jones-Evans.

NTFW chairman Arwyn Watkins said it was putting together a questionnaire for businesses to discover their skills needs before submitting a Convergence Fund bid.