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Britons get skills boost
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| New plans to improve the skills of Britons will include 120,000 new apprenticeships for the under-25s and 30,000 places for older workers |
IN A bid to fulfil the government's promise of British jobs for British workers', seven and a half million training places are to be created.
There is an estimated 33 per cent of people at the normal working age who are poorly qualified and almost seven million who have problems with
numeracy and literacy.
In an attempt to increase the skills of England's workforce, the government will introduce 3.5m basic literacy and numeracy courses.
Under the plan, there will also be 120,000 new
apprenticeships for the under-25s and 30,000 places for older workers.
In addition, the government plan to
create an extra 95,000 training places for people who didn't receive five good GCSE grades,
enabling them to get the equivilant vocational qualifications and improve their chance of
employment.
Skills secretary John Denham believes the
overall skill levels of workers in the UK must
improve, regardless of the recent influx of
migrants into the country.
During a interview on BBC Radio 4's Today
Programme, Mr Denham cited a problem with the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.
He said: "There is a real problem which we haven't managed to tackle."
The government's plans have been welcomed by
businesses and employers.
Spokesman for the Federation of Small
Businesses Stephen Alambritis said: "When
recruiting school leavers, more than 40 per cent of small businesses report problems with basic,
low-level skills such as numeracy, and soft skills such as communication.
"The need for 3.5m basic skills courses in an
acknowledgement the education system is
failing."
To improve on this, the government plans to increase the number of places on level three
courses - equivalent to A-levels - by 310,000 over the course of a decade.
Billions of pounds have already been spent on initiatives to improve the skills of the
country's most disadvantaged in terms of qualifications, including the New Deal strategies which aim to get people off benefits and into
employment.
2:29pm Thursday 29th November 2007
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CommentPosted by: david, london on 2:13am Thu 17 Apr 08
well im 16 turning 17 in june and ive been looking for an apprentaship for around a year and a half and it seems no 1 is willing to have an apprentice these days[bold]bold[/bold]
well im 16 turning 17 in june and ive been looking for an apprentaship for around a year and a half and it seems no 1 is willing to have an apprentice these days
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