Thousands Of Additional Apprenticeships Promised

A UK-wide initiative that is to offer a total of 7.5 million new training places will include some 120,000 new apprenticeships for the under-25s and 30,000 places for older workers.

The scheme sets out to be a major boost for both the construction industry and allied trades and is to be rolled out during the next three years.

There will also be an additional 95,000 places for people who don't have five good GCSEs, to enable them to get those or equivalent vocational qualifications in trade apprenticeships.

The plan also aims to upgrade the skills of the overall workforce including 3.5m basic literacy and numeracy courses.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown made the job promise in high-profile speeches to both the Labour party conference and the TUC conference in September.

Raising the skills of the worst qualified is crucial to the government's Welfare to Work strategy. Billions of pounds have been spent on the various "New Deal" strategies to get people off benefits.

But many claimants are too poorly qualified to be able to get sustainable jobs. Almost half of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants who move into work are back on benefits within six months.

The chief spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Stephen Alambritis said it was the education system that needed to change.

"When recruiting school leavers, over 40% of small businesses report problems with basic, low-level skills - such as literacy and numeracy, and soft skills - such as communication.

"The need for 3.5 million basic skills courses is an acknowledgement that the education system is not performing as it should."

There are also plans to increase the number of places on level three courses - the equivalent of A-levels. They will increase by 310,000 by the end of the decade.

Many of these courses are intended to be part-funded by employers through the "train to gain" initiative.

(BMcC)