<p><span>The Home Building Skills Partnership (HBSP) has been awarded £1.9 million from the Construction Industry Training Board’s Pathways into Construction initiative, to attract underrepresented groups into the housebuilding industry.</span><br/></p> <p><span>HBSP will use the funding over the next three years to entice women, ex-military personnel, further education (FE) students and young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) into roles within the sector.</span></p> <p><span>The Partnership said it worked with a number of developers to make sure its funding bid addressed the industry’s shortage in technical roles and provided the experience and skills necessary to support new recruits into the sector.</span></p> <p><span>HBSP’s work will allow employers to call upon “a more diverse range of talent in meeting their workforce and skills needs,” it said.</span></p> <p><span>Under Pathways into Construction, CITB and its partners aim to attract 11,800 people into construction careers, with a total investment of £10 million.</span></p> <p><span>Jenny Herdman, HBSP’s director, said: "The Pathways into Construction initiative addresses a key issue the sector as a whole is facing. We need to attract more new entrants to meet the skills gap and that means targeting groups who would not normally consider us.</span></p> <p><span>“There are so many roles available in homebuilding that can …