Four UK industries - manufacturing, construction, food and drink, and financial services - have been given the go-ahead to set up the first National Skills Academies.
It's hoped that the academies will train tens of thousands people each year, helping to create jobs and tackle significant skills shortages in the four sectors.
All four industries currently have high vacancy rates, for example:
• Manufacturing – this sector currently has around 48,000 vacancies, 13,000 of which are skill shortage vacancies.
• Construction – the industry needs around 88,000 new entrants per year in craft, technical, professional and management roles and estimates it will need 250,000 people skilled to National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 (equivalent to five good GCSEs) by 2010.
• Food and Drink manufacturing - over the next eight years 150,000 new recruits are needed to fill vacancies, especially technical operators and food scientists. Approximately 1 in 10 employers report skills shortages within their workforce.
• Financial Services sector - employers report they currently have around 25,000 vacancies of which 4,100 are skills shortage vacancies.
David Way, Director of Skills at the LSC, said that the new academies, due to open in September 2006, would be employer-led.
“National Skills Academies are a direct response to employers and their needs," he said. "They have put employers in the driving seat in developing high-quality and relevant training programmes for their own sector and the commitment of so many top employers has been impressive. This will help the further transformation of the further education sector so that it meets the needs of business more effectively."
The four industries will share in up to £40 million of investment for the skills academies from both government and industry.
Well-known companies, such as Bovis Lend Lease, Kier Homes, Northern Foods Plc, Youngs Bluecrest Seafood Ltd, Filtronics Components Ltd, Caterpillar, Nationwide Building Society and Norwich Union Insurance, have committed to leading the successful bids and are now working with the LSC to develop detailed business plans.
