HARLOW MP, Robert Halfon, has welcomed the Government’s announcement on Industrial Strategy which will bring more businesses back to Harlow and the villages, and create more high skilled, high paid jobs for local residents.

The Industrial Strategy will ensure everyone in Harlow can benefit from our economic success through ten ‘pillars’ – including investing in science, research and innovation, and upgrading infrastructure – that underpin a new approach and will identify all of the new opportunities across our economy.

The Government is championing skills and apprenticeships with £170m of new capital funding being spent to establish prestigious Institutes of Technology, plans to use the successful free school model to expand the teaching of specialist maths education across the country, action to tackle shortages of STEM skills and the testing of ambitious new approaches to encourage lifelong learning.

Harlow has had a state-of-the-art University Technical College, £2.847million of Government funding towards a new Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Centre at Harlow College, and being rolled out from 2019, every young person aged 16 will have a choice of two pathways: a traditional academic route, or a high quality technical education.

Across the East of England, the Industrial Strategy means improving the skills of workers so there are enough people to support the construction industry, improving transport connections between Norwich, the wider East England region and the rest of the UK and considering the means of improving the corridor between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge; benefitting the whole of the East of England.

Commenting, Robert Halfon said:

‘This is an important step to help us build an even better Harlow and champion apprenticeships and skills. The Industrial Strategy will create higher skilled, high wage jobs, improve living standards and drive economic growth across our town.

Local businesses and workers have the chance to contribute to this vision and submit their views to help us create a high-skilled economy in Harlow where businesses can grow and more jobs are created.

This strategy will ensure we are backing are business in Harlow and ensure more people share in the benefits of their success.’