Labour sets out Skills for Growth Plan

Diana Johnson MP today welcomed the Government's announcement of a new ambitious vision for giving people and businesses the skills needed to help drive Hull's future economic growth.

The Labour Government will:

Create a modern class of technicians, through a dramatic expansion of advanced apprenticeships, creating 35,000 new apprenticeship places over the next two years;

Give every adult in Hull who wants one a personal skills account, empowering learners to shop around for training with new information on how well different courses and colleges can meet their needs;

Radically simplify the way in which skills policy is delivered working with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills to reduce the number of public bodies by more than 30.

Diana Johnson MP said: "This announcement shows Labour's willingness to invest in ensuring that we have the skills to succeed in the years to come. Labour rescued apprenticeships from near extinction under the Tories and today's announcement that we're set to fund 35,000 more is great news for Hull."

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "Higher level skills have never been more important to our growth. This strategy marks a radical shift in our skills priorities. It shows how we'll make sure we've got the skills to power the new industries and jobs of the future.

"We need engineers to lay the cables to expand access to high-speed internet, skilled people to build the electric vehicles of the future, and technicians to develop the medicines that will save lives.

"We'll help do this with a major expansion of advanced apprenticeships, by empowering learners with skills accounts, investing in the growth sectors and simplifying the system."

In addition, the Government will:

Work with business to focus funding on the areas of the economy that can do most to drive growth and jobs, deploying around £100m to support around 160,000 training places in areas such as life sciences, digital media and technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, construction and low carbon energy;

Offering 1,000 new scholarships worth £1,000 each, to encourage the best apprentices to progress into higher education; and

Give more employers the chance to drive and shape training provision through launching a fifth competitive bidding round of the National Skills Academies programme.

Through Labour's policies outlined in Skills for Growth The National Skills Strategy the Labour Government sets out a pathway to achieving a bold new ambition for three quarters of the population to go to university or get an advanced technical qualification by the age of 30.

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