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Colleges to get share of £10m construction investment

Colleges to get share of £10m construction investment

The 11 FE institutions will be involved in establishing pathways for under-represented groups to enter the construction industry

5th August 2019, 2:13pm

Julia Belgutay

The Citb Pathways Into Construction Project Aims To Attract People From Under-represented Groups

Eleven colleges, including one in Scotland, will be among the institutions sharing a £10 million fund to attract people from a more diverse range of backgrounds into the construction industry.

CITB’s Pathways Into Construction project will aim to attract people from under-represented groups into construction over the next three years by establishing recruitment pathways. In total, more than 11,800 people will be targeted and 270 education institutions, construction employers, federations, councils and other organisations across the UK are to be involved.

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Construction output

Currently, only 16 per cent of construction employees are female, and seven per cent are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Construction output is expected to grow by 1.3 per cent a year, with 168,500 jobs to be created by 2023 - which means employers have to broaden the pool of people they recruit from.

Pathways Into Construction’s £10 million investment is drawn from construction industry levy-payers.

Stephen Cole, CITB head of careers strategy, said: “With thousands of jobs being created in the coming years, Pathways Into Construction will demonstrate that we need to stop fishing in only half the pond and diversify the talent pool to meet future skills needs.

“We’ll explore the best routes, which employers can adopt in future, to bring under-represented groups into the industry, not only filling the skills gap but also supporting employers by recruiting domestic talent with Brexit on the horizon.”