The Northern Powerhouse Partnership has today published a major report on how the region can close the education and skills gap compared to the south.
Chaired by former chancellor George Osborne, the organisation has a number of recommendations for improving skills and education attainment.
Clair Mowbray, chief executive of the National College for High Speed Rail, said:
“The skills disadvantage that the North of England suffers from is one of the most telling consequences of having a national economy that remains unevenly skewed towards London and the South. As a result the North often loses its most talented people to the South.
“To keep our best talent in the North we need to establish world-class training facilities that people from the North and across the country aspire to learn at. Crucially, we also need to increase engagement between businesses and learners so that talented people understand they can enjoy excellent career prospects in the North.
He added: “As an employer-led college and the world’s first dedicated high speed rail college we are already working in this vein; to offer world-class training and to better connect learners directly with industry. We would encourage all businesses to create more mentoring opportunities for new and existing employees so that organisations like ours can work together to establish new career opportunities in the North for future generations.”