Business owners hope new schools in medicine and engineering will address the "slim pickings" in the labour market as the county aims to avert a Brexit skills crisis.

With a year to go until Britain leaves the EU, businesses have welcomed news that the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church have received funding to establish the county’s first medical school.

It adds to a hub for engineering due to be built by Canterbury Christ Church University, which received £13 million of funding last year.

The new university projects come as figures show Kent's workforce is lagging behind the rest of the UK.

A new Kent County Council report revealed nearly one in four adults in the county (27%) do not have five GCSEs at A to C or equivalent, while just one in three (37%) hold level 4 qualifications, equivalent to a foundation degree or above.

Even fewer have a degree or similar, leaving Kent’s adult qualification levels below the national average at every stage, and "significantly lower" than the rest of the South East.

The news of the new medical school was welcomed by Jason Smith, managing director of Bedfont Scientific, a medical device manufacturer in Harrietsham, near Maidstone.

He said: "It's quite exciting for us because we work in a very niche area of medical so recruiting someone who has the right experience is almost impossible.

"Getting people with medical experience shouldn't be as hard as we find it now. We have three jobs in the biomedical engineering side of the business and it's slim pickings for us.

"Having access to a pool of people that have medical training and can come into the business with at least a baseline level of knowledge in biomedical engineering is going to be a real boost for us."

Canterbury Christ Church university senior pro vice-chancellor Prof Helen James said the new Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub will help keep skills in the county.

"Having access to a pool of people that have medical training and can come into the business with at least a baseline level of knowledge in biomedical engineering is going to be a real boost for us." - Jason Smith, Bedfont Scientific

She said: "I come from a region with a high number of manufacturing businesses and when I came to Kent I was struck by the lack of visibility and collaboration of the technology sector in the area.

"It is usually recognised as a centre for economic growth but because it was not visible I started doing research and realised there is a real skills gap in Kent and companies are struggling to recruit.

"If people were recruited, they only stayed here for a short while before leaving."

Tony Allen, chief executive of Allen Apprenticeships and Skills, added: "We have some great universities in Kent and one of the frustrations is a lot of people who come to study in the county go back home or go to London.

"This is fantastic news but the real challenge will be can we keep the talented people working in our hospitals and health sector?"