Automotive Academy provides template for National Manufacturing Skills Academy

The government has announced that the skills and training expertise of the Automotive Academy are to be applied across the whole of the manufacturing sector.

The academy is to become part of the government's new National Manufacturing Skills Academy, which will be unveiled next month.

The academy, set up by the DTI and employers, has pioneered ways to develop the skills needed in the UK car industry.

Alistair Darling, trade and industry secretary, said: “The Automotive Academy is a blue-print for what we want to see across the whole of manufacturing, with higher skills bringing more efficient businesses.

"The same service will still be on offer from the new skills academy. From January, the rest of manufacturing will start to benefit from the success of programmes pioneered in the car industry."