An £11m funding package to boost training and the jobs market in London ahead of the 2012 Olympics has been announced.

The three-year grants, being rolled out until 2010, are going into skills training, work placements and employment advice with organisations such as the Peabody Trust, City Gateway, Princes Trust, Centrepoint and Sports Coaches UK.

The funding could help more than 14,000 people and 1,500 businesses in the Capital, according to London Mayor Ken Livingstone. He says: “The 2012 Games is a once in a generation opportunity for London to transform communities across the capital which have suffered from decades of under investment and neglect.

"Groups who suffer from exclusion, such as lone parents, black and ethnic minority communities and disabled Londoners, will get the advice and training they need to find work."