The new construction skills academy at Exeter University will create 70 new apprenticeships and is a big boost to the city. 

It comes as figures showed a record 240.000 people starting apprenticeships last year, a 7 percent increase on 2008 in spite of the global downturn. 

It is vital that we continue to invest in skills and training, particularly through a downturn. It helps keep people in jobs and skills in the economy, reducing the impact of the recession, but it also means that when strong growth returns we’ll have the skills and trained employees to make the most of it. 

In previous recessions Governments have cut back on skills which have led to skills shortages and bottlenecks in the economy once the upturn comes. 

Great news that the Government has supported Exeter’s bid for a skills academy – involving Flybe, Exeter College and Exeter University.
 
Today’s announcement means work can start next month on the new training centre and new hotel at Exeter Airport.
 
The head of Flybe, Jim French, told me at the launch it means his company is taking on 40 apprentices for what it used to cost to take on just 5 – thanks to the Government support.

This news will secure many highly-skilled jobs and training places in Exeter for years to come. Flybe is one of our most successful local and regional firms. Though most people are aware of the airline, fewer realise how important Flybe’s Exeter base is to aircraft engineering skills. The company has been growing from strength to strength and services planes from all over the world including France and Germany.

Funding for the new academy was in doubt earlier this year because of the Learning and Skills Council having seriously overcommitted its capital budget. But sustained lobbying by the company, Exeter Chamber of Commerce, Exeter College and me delivered the right result today.

This is a classic example of active Government, helping people through the downturn and securing a more prosperous future by investing in skills and training. This would all be at risk from the Tories who have opposed the initiative, would slash investment now and also abolish the South West Regional Development Agency, whose role has been pivotal in supporting this project.

Good news too that, after 20 years, new council houses are at last to be built in Exeter and elsewhere. The home building programme of the 1945 Labour Government was – along with the NHS – one of its great legacies. It’s great that new council houses are now going to spring up, to supplement the big increase already underway in Housing Association homes – making it easier for people on modest incomes to find somewhere to live.