Budget: Government to invest £3bn in “skills revolution”
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will use the budget to announce a £3bn investment in skills and education to help Brits find higher paid jobs.
The cash injection aims to fuel economic growth by increasing the provision of post-16 eduction and creating opportunities for people wishing to enter high value sectors such as AI, cybersecurity, and nuclear.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said “our future economic success depends not just on the education we give to our children but the lifelong learning we offer to adults.
“This £3 billion skills revolution builds on our Plan for Jobs and will spread opportunity across the UK by transforming post-16 education – giving people the skills they need to earn more and get on in life,” he added.
The funding is expected to quadruple the number of places on skills bootcamps, fund additional classroom hours for up to 100,000 16 to 19-year-olds and create 24,000 traineeships. Mr Sunak will also announce the expansion of free Level 3 courses for adults in subjects like Maths, Chemistry and Biology which are proven to boost incomes by 16 per cent on average.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi welcomed plans for a multi billion pound “skills revolution.”
He said “we are supporting people to gain the skills they need to secure great jobs. Our skills reforms and this additional investment will support more people to continue to upskill and retrain throughout their lives and open the door to careers in high skilled industries.”
Under current government proposals apprenticeship funding will increase by £170m to a record high of £2.7bn in 2024-25 alongside new improvements to support more small businesses to hire new apprentices.
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