Education Minister Kemi Badenoch has today (20 August) announced the further rollout of the Get Help to Retrain digital service to the West Midlands and North East following a successful launch across the Liverpool City region last month.

The Get Help to Retrain digital service is the first of a series of products that will make up the Governments’ landmark National Retraining Scheme, which is being developed to support adults whose jobs may change due to new technologies – such as automation and AI – to retrain and get on the path to a new career.

Get Help to Retrain is designed to help adults to identify their existing skills, explore the different types of jobs and find training courses to gain the skills they need to progress. Dedicated support is also on hand from qualified careers advisers to guide people through the process and provide expert information and advice.

The service was initially trialled across the Liverpool City Region where users provided valuable feedback so it can be developed further. From today, the service will be available to more adults to test across the West Midlands and the North East, as well as continuing in the Liverpool City Region.

As the next phase of the rollout ramps up, adults will benefit from new and improved features including being able to explore a wider range of training options online and being matched to different types of jobs that they may not have considered they could do with their existing skills.

Education Minister Kemi Badenoch said:

Following the successful release of the Get Help to Retrain digital service in the Liverpool City Region, I am pleased to announce that from today, we are rolling it out to two additional areas – the North East and West Midlands.

Get Help to Retrain is just the start of the National Retraining Scheme, which will play a vital role helping adults whose jobs are at risk of changing or evolving due to new technologies to learn new skills and get on the path to a new, more rewarding career.

We’re starting off small and rolling it out in stages so we can test, refine and develop the service as we go and make sure we get it right for the people who need it.

Get Help to Retrain has started as a private service so it can be tested and developed further before being made available publicly across England from 2020.

Eligible adults – those aged 24 and over, with a qualification below degree level and working below a certain wage threshold – across the West Midlands, North East and the Liverpool City Region will be personally invited to test the service.

In the autumn, Get Help to Retrain will be rolled out to three more locations – the Leeds City Region, Cambridge and Peterborough, and the South West. A series of additional products that will make up the full service are being developed and tested in parallel, before being released at different times.

The National Retraining Scheme – backed by £100 million of Government investment – is a manifesto commitment and is a key part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy for building a country fit for the future.

The scheme is led and overseen by the National Retraining Partnership – a unique partnership between Government, the CBI and the TUC – to ensure the collective voices of businesses and employees are heard.

The National Careers Service in the Liverpool City Region, North East and West Midlands is supporting the testing of the scheme by providing qualified careers advisers to give expert information, advice and guidance to users of Get Help to Retrain.

Josh Hardie, CBI Deputy Director-General, said:

It’s encouraging to see National Retraining Scheme testing rolled out to other locations across the country. Ensuring the UK’s workforce is fit for the future is essential to improving productivity growth. It’s the only sustainable route to higher wages and living standards.

The world of work is changing, fast. The only way to help people adapt and learn throughout their careers is by employers and Government working together. The National Retraining Partnership should kick start a wider cross-government effort aimed at embracing the fourth industrial revolution.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

Every worker should have the opportunity to improve their skills and retrain. This is especially important as technology and automation are set to transform Britain’s economy in the coming years.

The launch of the first phase of the National Retraining Scheme is great news. It’s the beginning of collaborative approach between government, unions and business to provide retraining to many more working people so they are prepared for the jobs of the future. Union learning reps will play a central role helping workers access opportunities through the scheme.

These trials are just the beginning. We look forward to helping the National Retraining Partnership develop a full national programme to invest in the potential of all workers and deliver the skills we need for the future.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands and former CEO of John Lewis, said:

From my days at John Lewis, I know just how fast technology moves in business. Artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles and robotics are getting better, and in reality it is only a matter of time before real people will lose out to bots in the fight for jobs.

That is why re-skilling and digital training is vital for workers across the West Midlands in order to make sure they are prepared for the future.

Get Help to Retrain announced by government will do this, as well as help make sure businesses have the skilled workforce they need to develop in the long term. It goes hand-in-hand with my Beat the Bots scheme, where the West Midlands Combined Authority is spending £5 million to digitally train nearly 2,000 workers.

I am delighted the Secretary of State has chosen the West Midlands as one of the first areas in the country to have the scheme rolled out, and I look forward to working closely with him to make sure it is a success.

Michelle Rainbow, Skills Director, North East Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

As our regional employment landscape changes and evolves, we need to support our local workforce to adapt. It’s therefore welcome news that the North East has been chosen as one of the first regions to be involved in the Get Help to Retrain scheme.

This programme will help adults in our area whose jobs could be at risk, to explore their options, develop skills and access new work opportunities. The scheme will also help to support better productivity in our region, by matching skills more closely with employers’ needs.

Although this scheme will target a relatively small number of adults initially, we would gladly support its extension to a wider workforce in the future if it proves to be successful.

Thousands of young people across England will benefit from new mental health support including counselling, mentoring and arts programmes in their communities. This will be backed by a multi-million pound government investment this year.

As part of the government’s commitment to transforming mental health care – backed by an extra £2.3 billion a year through the NHS Long Term Plan – Mental Health Minister Nadine Dorries and Public Health Minister Jo Churchill today announce an investment of a further £3.3 million in 23 local community projects across England.

Earlier this year the government pledged to overhaul society’s approach to mental illness through better access to education, training and support across communities. This included a commitment to train all teachers to spot the signs of mental illness in children, making sure they can intervene before issues escalate.

The funding will allow more children and young people aged 25 and under to access local services to support their mental health, with early intervention for those at risk of mental health problems. The projects have an emphasis on improving access to support outside of NHS services, including for groups such as LGBT young people or those from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

Projects receiving funding include:

• LifeLine Community Projects in Barking and Dagenham will receive over £298,000 to expand their work with young people most at risk of poor mental health, with preventative support to stop problems escalating and reduce pressure on NHS services
• York Mind will receive £50,000 to expand their Arts Award programme, which connects young people to the arts, enabling them to increase their skills, confidence, sense of identity and reduce isolation, alongside one-to-one support
• The Proud Trust’s Peer Support Project in Manchester will receive over £23,000 to support more LGBT young people through life-changing events, including discovering their sexuality/gender and coming out

See a full list of all projects receiving funding (PDF, 72.2 KB, 10 pages)

The funding will come from the Health and Wellbeing Fund, part of a programme of government investment in the voluntary sector. The projects will be fully funded through the scheme in their first year and additional joint funding from local commissioners will be agreed for 2 years afterwards.

Mental health services are being transformed through the NHS Long Term Plan so that 345,000 more children and young people have access to mental health support by 2024, including via mental health support teams in and around schools. This will significantly improve early intervention and prevention.

This funding boost follows last summer’s funding increase to the NHS budget, which will see the health service receive an extra £33.9 billion more every year by 2024 to support the NHS Long Term Plan.

Minister for Mental Health Nadine Dorries said:

“We know children and young people today face many pressures at home and in their social and academic lives but giving them easily accessible mental health support at an early age can help them thrive later in life.

“That’s why the government is investing billions every year to transform mental health care, and giving more money to innovative, community-led projects run by people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to supporting young people by providing them with the tools and means they need to manage their own mental health.”

Minister for Public Health Jo Churchill said:

“It’s only right that children and young people are able to access mental health support, not only through the NHS, but in the heart of their communities, schools and homes where they spend the majority of their time.

“The voluntary sector has a hugely important role to play in delivering these kinds of services and our Health and Wellbeing Fund is leading the way in ensuring government plays a role in cultivating the most effective, innovative and successful forms of community support – backed by an extra £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to improve NHS mental health services too.”

Kathy Roberts, CEO – Association of Mental Health Providers, said:

“The NHS Long Term Plan made a number of promises for mental health in the next 10 years, including the much-needed scaling up and improvement of support for children and young people.

“The voluntary sector has a key role in transforming mental health care and offers a range support for children and young people. The sector is innovative, has reach into communities, and there is huge potential to expand and scale up its offer. Association of Mental Health Providers therefore welcomes the Health and Wellbeing Fund’s focus on this important area and the funding of 23 exceptional voluntary and community sector projects.”

O Governo das Ilhas Falkland e a Embaixada Britânica no Brasil anunciam a abertura de inscrições para o Concurso Cultural que tem como prêmio uma viagem às Ilhas Falkland, na América do Sul. Podem participar estudantes de graduação regularmente matriculados em instituições de ensino superior do Brasil. Cada candidato deve produzir um vídeo de até um minuto, em inglês, respondendo à pergunta “Por que eu devo conhecer os meus vizinhos das Ilhas Falkland?”.

Os candidatos devem enviar os vídeos por serviços como Youtube, Facebook, WeTransfer, GoogleDrive ou Dropbox, para o e-mail ForeignPolitical.Brazil@fco.gov.uk. A data final para envio das inscrições é 30 de setembro de 2019, às 23h59min.

O autor do melhor vídeo ganhará uma viagem às Ilhas, onde ficará hospedado por uma semana na casa de uma família local, aprendendo sobre a história, cultura e sociedade da região. Todos os custos da viagem (transporte, alimentação e seguro-viagem) serão financiados pelo Governo das Ilhas Falkland. O concurso é organizado simultaneamente no Brasil, Argentina, Chile e Uruguai

As Falklands são território ultramarino britânico e autônomo, localizado no Atlântico Sul, nas proximidades da Terra do Fogo, a porção de terra mais austral da América do Sul.

Concurso Cultural Faklands – 2019 – Regulamento em Português (PDF, 485KB, 4 pages)

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump today, ahead of the G7 Summit in Biarritz. They discussed economic issues and our trading relationship, and the Prime Minister updated the President on Brexit. The leaders looked forward to seeing each other at the Summit this weekend.