Funding worth £3.5 million has been announced by the Government to help train hundreds of people in key green skills ahead of the launch of the Green Deal.
The Green Deal is the Government's flagship energy efficiency scheme aimed at renovating draughty, energy inefficient homes and office buildings across the UK. This scheme will begin later this year and will support an estimated 65,000 jobs by 2015.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said: 'This money will help hundreds of people gear up for the Green Deal and ensure this scheme is a real success on the ground. We have worked hand in hand with industry to get this right and are targeting funding at the areas where there is an urgent need as well as a clear demand. We hope this will encourage businesses across the country to fully prepare their staff for the launch of the Green Deal later this year.'

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been working with the Green Deal Skills Alliance to ensure support goes where it is most needed. DECC is putting forward £3m and one of the leading partners in the Alliance, CITB-ConstructionSkills, will provide a further £500,000 towards the training of insulation installers.

CITB-ConstructionSkills CEO Mark Farrar said: 'Training shortfalls have been identified as one of the main barriers to the success of the scheme. We have invested funds to tackle training shortages and unlock commercial opportunities for SMEs and we welcome DECC's commitment to skills and training by doing the same thing. We are now calling on employers and the supply chain to also invest in sustainable skills training for their workforce, so they too can capitalise on the Green Deal.'

DECC is also funding a £10m competition to be launched in early May to support the incorporation of innovative technologies which can achieve significant energy savings in existing non-domestic buildings. Non-domestic buildings, such as schools, shops, offices, hotels, are associated with 18 per cent of the UK's total carbon emissions so reducing energy demand in this sector will help the country meet its climate targets.