UK government has earmarked £300 million from its training budget for the construction, hospitality and processing and manufacturing industries.

A new agreement between the UK Government and employers will deliver more skilled workers in construction, hospitality and processing and manufacturing, Skills Secretary John Denham announced yesterday (25 June).

The Government will earmark over £300 million from its training budget to tackle current and future skills shortages within these key sectors – with £133m to help construction, £112m for hospitality and £62m for processing and manufacturing.

The deal – known as a ‘compact’ – is aimed at simplifying access to skills, providing funding for relevant qualifications and some short courses, a sector-specific Train to Gain scheme and a simpler definition of how businesses can obtain funded training.

Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, said: “Industries such as construction, hospitality and processing are key to our future prosperity, but there is a need for more highly trained people if we are to continue to lead the world in an increasingly competitive global economy. The success of our country will depend on doing even more to increase people’s skills and their ability to gain jobs in growing and successful industries, such as these.

“This compact will ensure that employers will have access to flexible, world-class training tailored to the specific needs of their business, delivered when and where they need it.”

Mark Farrar, Corporate Services Director, ConstructionSkills, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to build on the success we have had in working with the construction industry to meet its skills needs. Through the compact we now have a better opportunity to access funding from the Train to Gain budget to address existing and future skills needs.”

As the first major stage of a radical shake-up of the skills and training system, it is expected that similar deals will be announced in the future. They will similarly rely on the expertise of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) to encourage employers to take up government skills programmes, in return for funding and support.