SOMERSET'S new status as an Education Investment Area will have a transformational impact on skills training for hundreds of school and college students, MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has forecast.

The designation adds Somerset to the list of areas selected for Government levelling-up funding and where the Department for Education will be directing extra resources.

Among the special features of the EIA programme will be retention payments for the best teachers but on a broader scale ministers want to see more money ploughed into skills training.

They are creating a new Future Skills Unit to identify which skills gaps exist in which industries so that training can be closely focussed.

The programme will also open the door for thousands more adults to access free, flexible training and acquire the skills needed to pursue careers in the environmental, digital and construction sectors.

Mr Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said he was thrilled the county had been chosen for additional help.

He said: “My colleagues and I have been campaigning for a long time for Somerset’s case to be recognised and for the under-funding in educational provision to be remedied.

“But I am particularly heartened by the opportunities local people will be offered for skills training.

"A huge skills deficiency became apparent locally during the early stages of building Hinkley Point C and although local colleges responded by offering specialised training there is still much ground to be made up - and this funding should make it possible to achieve considerable further progress in that area.

“Not every school leaver wants or needs to go to university but it has been the bias towards university education over the last 30 or so years that has bequeathed us the skills shortage that we are now trying to remedy.

“Our immediate challenge now is to ensure that the funding is equitably distributed across the county with those areas with the greatest need receiving proportionately the greatest degree of investment.”

The Government has announced 55 education ‘cold spots’ in England that have been identified as part of the levelling-up agenda.

The ‘cold spots’ will be targeted for support, with teachers offered a “levelling-up premium” to improve retention.

Schools in the Education Investment Areas which are judged less than “good” by Ofsted in successive inspections could be moved into multi-academy trusts under the plans.

A spokesperson for Somerset County Council said: “We welcome news of extra investment in schools but will need to see the detail about how this will apply in practice. We also hope the good work of the West Somerset Opportunity Area will continue to be supported under these plans.”