The biggest overhaul of post-16 education in 70 years will be announced this week in a multibillion pound drive to improve technical training.

Philip Hammond will unveil “radical” plans to put technical education on an equal footing with academic studies in his Budget on Wednesday.

The current system, where students have to pick from 13,000 different qualifications, will be replaced with just 15 standalone courses.

Teenagers who undertake the technical training, such as courses to become an engineer or builder, will spend 50 per cent longer learning than they do now, equalling 900 hours of teaching a year.