Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has asked infrastructure figures to work with the government to help it spend £73 billion on the UK's skills legacy.

He addressed bosses at the Highways Agency, HS2, Crossrail, Network Rail and Transport for London (TfL), asking them to work with the industry to create proposals before the next meeting in 2014.

Mr McLoughlin said: "Alongside the huge improvements to infrastructure and services, we want to create a legacy of skilled workers capable of transferring their skills between flagship projects."

The Department for Transport states the government is increasing the investment for highway schemes threefold over five years to an annual expenditure of £3 billion by the 2020-2021 spending period. It will spend over £6 billion on road maintenance this parliament, with £12 billion in the next.

It will also contribute over £10 billion to TfL to help with upgrading the tube and other projects. Additionally it will fund the modernisation of the country's railway, awarding £9 billion to Network Rail between 2014-2015 and 2018-2019, as well as major projects such as Crossrail 2 and HS2.