* Health ministry to receive 5 bln stg over 3 years for R&D
* Further education to get 3 billion pound boost
* Billions more for foreign investors, regional transport
* Plans come ahead of Oct. 27 budget and spending review
* Other sectors likely to face squeeze on day-to-day costs
(Updates with further spending announcements)
By David Milliken
LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rishi
Sunak plans a 5 billion pound ($6.9 billion) programme to fund
health research and 3 billion pounds of extra funding for
further education in next week's budget, finance ministry
officials said late on Saturday.
The announcements, which include a raft of smaller spending
decisions, follows news earlier in the day of 6.9 billion pounds
for regional transport projects ahead of a major review of
government spending over the next three years.
The transport investment is 1.5 billion pounds more than
previously planned, as the government seeks to boost living
standards outside London through its 'levelling-up' agenda.
"We want to make the UK the best place in the world to
start, grow and invest in a business, as we continue to support
enterprise, create jobs, and level up as we recover from the
pandemic," Sunak said in a statement.
Sunak is expected to set fairly tight limits for most areas
of day-to-day public spending in his budget on Wednesday, which
will seek to lower public debt after a record surge in borrowing
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But unlike his predecessors' policy after the 2008-09
financial crisis, he will allow more leeway for long-term public
investment designed to reward voters who backed Prime Minister
Boris Johnson in December 2019's election.
Most of the education money will support 16- to 19-year-old
students in England who are studying a new alternative
qualification to the traditional school-leaving exams which are
the normal pathway to university, the finance ministry said.
Some 550 million pounds will fund education and training for
older adults, including numeracy skills and three- to four-month
courses in areas such as digital skills, construction and roles
in the rail and nuclear industries.
Johnson's government wants to promote apprenticeships and
other alternatives to standard university degrees, which it
believes offer poor job prospects for many students and do too
little to tackle skills shortages in industry.
Britain's health ministry will receive 5 billion pounds over
the next three years to fund research and development, including
2 billion pounds in 2024, which the finance ministry said was
57% more in cash terms than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunak also plans to increase inward investment incentives by
nearly a billion pounds to create a 1.4 billion pound fund.
More than 800 million pounds will be reserved for the
electric car industry, while 350 million pounds will be used to
attract life sciences manufacturing, the finance ministry said.
A further 700 million pounds would be spent on upgrading
electronic border systems and replacing patrol boats used to
combat smuggling and illegal migration, it added.
Separately, business groups gave a cautious welcome to the
extension by six months of a lending programme for companies
still struggling through the pandemic.
"The acid test for the scheme will be whether it is able to
support the recovery by getting credit flowing to the firms who
need it most," said Suren Thiru, head of economics at the
British Chambers of Commerce.
($1 = 0.7272 pounds)
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Timothy Heritage and
Daniel Wallis)