The announcement from John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, that 7,000 new apprenticeship places will be created in the construction industry has been welcomed by the Cross-Industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force (CCATF)

The Department for Universities, Innovation and Skills (DUIS) has announced that Private Finance Initiative (PFI) building contracts for the Government's anticipated building programme will be conditional on firms training apprenticeships. The CCATF has been lobbying for the Government to stimulate training in construction through the procurement process since it was established in December 2007 and today's announcement is seen as a major victory to boost apprenticeship numbers.

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Geoff Lister, Chairman of the CCATF, said: "The CCATF has been calling for procurement-led measures for over a year and this announcement has to be seen as a positive step towards reintroducing the culture and ethos of training into construction. Last year over 30,000 young people applied for a mere 5,500 ConstructionSkills apprenticeship places. This demonstrates that the appetite for training is extremely healthy but that the task at hand must be to create places to meet demand. Encouraging employer engagement is the only way this is achievable. What we must avoid in the current economic climate is a repeat of the mistakes of the last recession when 500,000 people left the construction industry leading to the skills shortage that lasted until this year."

Mr Lister continued: "I view the Government's commitment to expanding the number of apprenticeship places in the construction industry as extremely encouraging and see 7,000 new places for young people as going some way to tackling the skills shortage in our sector. There is more work to be done, however, and the CCATF continue to take the lead in finding solutions to the skills crisis that currently handicaps our industry and the wider UK economy."

(CD/JM)