NEAA PROJECTS

The NEAA has been appointed by the Department for Education to lead the development of a new Local Skills Improvement Plan for the North East. We will be working with businesses, education and training providers, key stakeholders and cross-sector Employer Representative Bodies to develop a plan which meets future business needs and provides a resilient and responsive supply of the skills needed to drive economic success and investment in the region.

Training for Growth Level 2 is a new initiative designed to increase the number of Level 2 apprenticeships across Sunderland, with a focus on the advanced manufacturing sector. The original Training for Growth Pilot, completed in March 2025, demonstrated that financial support helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome barriers to hiring apprentices. That pilot resulted in 17 Level 3 apprenticeships across 10 local businesses. Building on that success, Training for Growth Level 2 shifts focus to entry-level skills (Level 2), opening up new opportunities for local residents while supporting SME growth in the automotive and advanced manufacturing sectors.

The V-CAL Project, led by the NEAA and a high level consortia, seeks to scale and expand the deployment of Connected and Autonomous Logistics (CAL) to future-proof commercial opportunities and drive significant UK growth in this sector. V-CAL will build upon the Department for Digital Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) funded 5G CAL project, which delivered a working proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstration of the autonomous and teleoperation of a 40-tonne truck, with live loads delivered from Vantec to Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK (NMUK) fully autonomously without intervention by a safety driver.

P-CAL (Port-Connected and Automated Logistics), led by the NEAA and a high-level consortium, is a pioneering project set to demonstrate autonomous container transport at the Port of Tyne. Building on the success of the 5GCAL and V-CAL initiatives previously supported by UK Government, P-CAL marks a significant leap forward in connected and automated logistics for UK ports. This multi-million-pound initiative will deploy a fully autonomous terminal tractor to move containers between the dockside and the container compound, creating a UK first in waterside port automation.

We are continuously working with local enterprise partnerships and Government to secure funding for the automotive sector and our members that will enable the development of critical assets and infrastructure to support growth for our area.