{"id":2118128,"date":"2026-10-12T15:55:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/?p=2118128"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:55:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:55:01","slug":"4m-to-plug-west-midlands-engineering-skills-gap-as-mayor-backs-new-industrial-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2118128-4m-to-plug-west-midlands-engineering-skills-gap-as-mayor-backs-new-industrial-age","title":{"rendered":"\u00a34m to plug West Midlands engineering skills gap as Mayor backs new industrial age"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has announced \u00a34m to train local people in advanced manufacturing and engineering skills.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The funding was announced during a visit to City of Wolverhampton College, which has been awarded Advanced Manufacturing Technical Excellence College status.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wolvcoll.ac.uk\/\"> The college<\/a> will act as a regional centre of excellence, working with employers and other training providers to share expertise and deliver industry-standard training.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Parker was joined by Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden on a tour of the college\u2019s Advanced Technology &amp; Automotive Centre in Bilston, where students demonstrated industrial robotics, electric vehicle technology, laser cutting and virtual reality welding.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Parker said: \u201cFor too long, too many people have been locked out of the opportunities created on their doorstep. I\u2019m changing that. This investment will help local people gain the skills that modern manufacturing and engineering employers are crying out for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The West Midlands Combined Authority and the region\u2019s colleges also signed a new College Compact, which commits them to working together on tackling the number of young people not in education, employment or training, building a stronger higher-level skills offer, and embedding digital and AI skills into training.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Colleges are planning more than 37,000 enrolments on Level 2, Level 3 and higher courses in the 2026\/27 academic year, an increase of more than 11,000 on the previous year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The announcement follows Parker\u2019s commitment of \u00a375m to construction skills, to help meet demand for 4,000 construction workers a year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Louise Fall, principal and chief executive of City of Wolverhampton College, said: \u201cThe West Midlands is globally recognised for manufacturing excellence and AMTEC status, along with additional funding for the region and the new College Compact partnership arrangement, will enable us to further ensure that we continue to deliver industry-standard training so that the future workforce is equipped with the skills that the sector needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It follows a run of investment announcements from the Mayor, including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2118048-100m-west-midlands-creative-boost-as-peaky-blinders-and-the-cadburys-drive-filming-surge\">\u00a3100m package for the region\u2019s creative industries<\/a> confirmed last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has announced \u00a34m to train local people in advanced manufacturing and engineering skills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284306,"featured_media":2118129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,127720],"coauthors":[137138],"class_list":["post-2118128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","category-skills","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u00a34m to plug West Midlands engineering skills gap as Mayor backs new industrial age | TheBusinessDesk.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has announced \u00a34m to train local people in advanced manufacturing and engineering skills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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