Central force

Henry McLeish, Scotland's minister for enterprise and lifelong learning, has opened a Pounds 1.8 million centre for small business development in the Central College of Commerce in Glasgow.

The college's new business learning zone will offer state-of-the-art facilities in information and communication technology and training and business consultancy to small and medium-sized companies.

Mr McLeish said: "This project underlines the crucial role that further education colleges can play in building a knowledge economy."

The college has put more than Pounds 1 million into the project, with Pounds 600,000 coming from European funding, and Pounds 100,000 from the Robertson Trust.