In the light of the chancellor’s funding announcement of £500m a year to support technical training for young people, Bridgnorth-based automotive castings specialist Grainger & Worrall is upbeat about the future. Edward Grainger, a director of the family-owned business, said: “As a significant local employer, we welcome this budget, which is a real shot in the arm for technical skills development in our region.
“In September, we – along with other local businesses backed by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and Growth Deal funding, will be launching the £3m Marches Centre of Manufacturing and Technology (MCMT), which will provide skills to 2020 people by 2020.
“Mr Hammond’s Budget confirms that students on technical courses – now to be called ‘T-Levels’ – will be spending up to 50 per cent longer learning than they do now. This is great news for our student engineers who will be among the most highly skilled in their field. It’s also great for us as a manufacturing business that needs capable people in the areas of design, foundry engineering and machining and other high end manufacturing skills to maintain our success.”
