It may not really be autumn, but it's certainly a statement. Here's a bite-size look at some of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's key announcements from this afternoon.
In order to raise school standards and support areas facing the greatest pressures on school places, the Government will provide an additional £1.2bn for capital investment in schools in England, including:
- an extra £600m to fund 100 additional Free Schools by the end of this Parliament. This will include new specialist maths Free Schools for 16-18 year olds, supported by strong university maths departments and academics; and
- an additional £600m to support those local authorities with the greatest demographic pressures. This funding is enough to deliver an additional 40,000 school places
In order to make the education and skills system more responsive to employer needs, the Government will:
- enable businesses to design, develop and purchase the vocational training programmes they need through a new £250m pilot fund. In early 2012, employers will be invited to bid for a share of the fund
- improve the apprenticeships programme and reduce red tape, including by: requiring all apprenticeships providers to support training in English and maths up to good GCSE standard where not already achieved; ensuring that employers are able to advertise a vacancy within one month of deciding to take on an apprentice and have them ready to start work within three months; and removing all excess health and safety requirements for apprenticeships
- increase young people’s access to high quality work experience by investing £4.5m over the next two years to support work experience as part of post-16 programmes of study; work with the Federation of Small Businesses and other employer groups to review regulation impacting on the provision of work experience by the end of December 2011; and publish shortly a guide on work experience; and
- support the kite-marking of courses that employers value by science, technology, engineering and maths Sector Skills Councils supported by the Confederation of British Industry.
