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<br /><p>The Government is undertaking a range of activities to support skills in
the infrastructure and home building sectors. These include the reform of the apprenticeship
system, the new apprenticeship levy, and the National Colleges Programme - which includes
the National College for High Speed Rail. From April 2015 all government procurers
of construction and infrastructure projects over £10 million are to include measures
in pre-qualification and contract delivery to encourage skills development.</p><br
/><p>The Construction Leadership Council and Construction Industry Training Board
(CITB) have separately undertaken work to encourage more people into the construction
sector, including the launch of the GO-Construct website and work with the National
Careers Service and Construction Ambassadors for schools. The CITB has also been working
closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Armed Forces resettlement service
and Local Enterprise Partnerships to encourage experienced individuals into the sector.
In total, £42 million was invested by CITB, supporting 18,500 construction apprentices
in 2015.</p><br /><p>In addition, the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy, produced
under the oversight of Terry Morgan, Chair of Crossrail, will set out further actions
to be taken specifically to ensure the supply of skills to deliver transport infrastructure.</p><br
/><p>Assessments of demand for construction skills include the National Infrastructure
Plan for Skills, which estimates that 250,000 construction and 150,000 engineering
construction workers will be required to meet demand in the infrastructure sector
by 2020. The CITB estimate that 224,000 new construction jobs are set to be created
in the UK over the next five years.</p><br /> <br /> <br />
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