New guidance which aims to promote growth by creating jobs and boosting skills in communities is to be released.

The announcement was made today by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the National Skills Academy for Construction (NSAfC), which is an innovative employer-led training programme.

The guidance is 'client led' and will help central government departments and local authorities harness best practice to help provide more opportunities for employment, apprenticeships and training for public sector construction projects.

Trowers and Hamlin Solicitors and the Skills Project have developed the guidance on behalf of the NSAfC and worked closely with the National Apprenticeship Service and BIS. The model documentation, benchmarks, case studies and practical commentary have been produced building on experience of successful NSAfC projects.

The guidance includes everything central government and local authorities need to deliver apprenticeships and employment and training opportunities on any construction project.

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The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is one of the first government agencies to look to embrace the guidance document, which will have a direct impact on initiatives such as Decent Homes and Kick Start.

Skills Minister, Kevin Brennan, said: "The guidance we are publishing today is a really important step in providing central government and local authorities with the tools they need to ensure we are securing maximum value from public procurement.

"Government is fully committed to using its significant construction procurement programme to promote growth and open up skills training and apprenticeship opportunities. Maintaining investment in training is crucial in the construction sector as we prepare the economy for a productive and sustainable future.

"Over the next three years, government is aiming to secure 20,000 apprenticeships through public procurement and we hope the construction industry will help to contribute to this ambition. A number of these apprentices will have the opportunity to train with companies working towards a low-carbon future within construction."

Mark Farrar, Chief Executive, ConstructionSkills commented: "To emerge successfully from recession we need to ensure that we have made the right investment in skills and training. Over the past four years, the National Skills Academy for Construction network has ensured that the skills employers need are delivered on site, direct to their projects. "It has been a unique collaboration between ConstructionSkills, employers, clients, colleges and funding providers to change the way industry trains it workers. This new guidance takes every success we have learned from that process and has delivered it straight to those the clients that have a direct say in the skills and employment landscape of our country. This is excellent news for the industry."

(GK/KMcA)