THE once-ailing manufacturing sector in the North-East may be about to receive a shot in the arm after the Government announced a £40m drive to improve skills.

Four areas of industry will have their own academies from next September, training tens of thousands of young people and adults every year, as well as creating jobs, improving productivity and tackling skills shortages.

Up to £40m will be invested by the Government and industry into the key areas - manufacturing, construction, financial services, and food and drink.

Industry Minister Alun Michael said the investment represented a major opportunity for the North-East to forge a prosperous future.

"This is a terrific development and particularly important as far as regions like the North-East are concerned," he said.

"Those areas with a big manufacturing past will only have a manufacturing future if we have the UK at the cutting edge of technology and our young people at the cutting edge of the skills that are necessary."

The construction academy will start with four training centres and two mobile units, while the academy for financial services will establish centres in London, Manchester and Norwich.

The Government said there were shortages of thousands of skilled workers in manufacturing, while in construction nearly 90,000 recruits were needed every year.

Mr Michael said London's success in winning the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games also gave the region's construction industry the potential to secure lucrative new business.

"The North-East has a particular heritage of skills in construction," he said.

"We have the Olympics coming in 2012 and that's an opportunity for the construction industry throughout the UK to showcase what it can do."

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said National Skills Academies were a chance for the Government and employers to work towards achieving common goals.

"In the past, Government has let down employers when it has tried to second guess what different sectors need," she said.

"But equally, employers have been guilty of watching Government initiatives from the sidelines and expressing disappointment when they inevitably land wide of the mark."