(BBC News) 

1.7m asked to improve work skills

Three quarters of England’s population should go to university or do an advanced apprenticeship by the age of 30, the government says.

It means another 1.7 million being qualified to the equivalent of A-level. Learners will have more choice, ministers say, but funding will focus on having better qualified technicians.

The ambition is part of a new strategy that will also see the scrapping of some 30 public bodies currently delivering skills policy.

The new aims were outlined by Skills Secretary Lord Mandelson – as the latest unemployment figures showed the number of young people out of work had increased by 15,000.

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