“The fourth industrial revolution will blur the boundary between academic knowledge and technical skills. The engineering and technology sectors support the Government’s continuing policies to raise the status of technical training and qualification.
“On this basis, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers welcomes the Chancellor’s commitment to make up to £450 million available so that apprenticeship levy paying employers can transfer up to 25% of their levy fund to companies in their supply chain. We also endorse the provision of Government funding to halve contributions smaller companies pay towards apprenticeship training from 10% to 5%.
“Engineering has a long tradition of high quality apprenticeships. We hope these two measures announced in the Budget will contribute to continued progress to produce a generation of highly trained and adaptable technical experts.”
