BOLTON Bury training and Enterprise Council has been given a £120,651 government bonus for high performance.

Wigan's METROTEC gets £42,424 and Manchester TEC £340,235.

The cash is part of a £21 million performance bonus paid to top TECs nationwide for achieving government targets.

These targets include providing training for the disabled, meeting specified education needs and providing help for ethnic minorities.

Announcing the cash - of which almost £4 million went to the North-West including Merseyside - Junior Education and Employment Minister James Paice said: "TECs consistently demonstrate tremendous commitment to the people they serve.

"These achievements reflect TECs' determination to contribute to their local comunity, to help people at a disadvantage in the Labour market, people living in areas of high deprivation, and to help business become competitive by, for example, becoming recognised as Investors in People.

"The awards offer a financial incentive to TECs to ensure that stretching targets lead to real achievements. The targets we set for 1995/96 were particularly challenging and the way TECs have risen to this challenge is remarkable.

"TECs score points for achieving targets. The size of the awards earned by a TEC depends on the number of points scored and the size of its budget."

BBTEC will now have to decide what to do with its bonus cash.

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