City Deal for Reading and Central Berkshire

Reading has been named as one of 20 areas in the country to have been chosen to take forward their City Deal bid.

So-called ‘City Deals’ are special arrangements negotiated between Central Government and areas / cities, where they are given the powers and tools they need to drive local economic growth.

In Reading’s case, the bid was put forward by Reading Borough Council on behalf of the Reading and Central Berkshire City Region.

Reading’s bid centres around giving young people who grew up and live in the area the skills they need to access local job opportunities. This includes driving down the skills gap that exists which in some cases can mean young people are not accessing any employment opportunities that may be available.

Examples of the gap between jobs on the market in Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham and West Berkshire, and jobseekers demand for those jobs include:

• Construction – Job Supply: 1038 Jobseekers demand: 220
• Social Care – Job Supply: 435 Jobseekers demand: 100
• Hospitality and Catering – Job Supply: 138 Jobseekers demand: 130
• Logistics – Job Supply: 314 Jobseekers demand: 145

Following today’s announcement, the next stage in the process is for Reading and its partners (* see notes to editors) to negotiate with the Government on what powers it needs to best achieve its aims.