Construction Sector: Skills Shortage

Lord Allen of Kensington Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Allen of Kensington]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address the skills shortage in the construction sector and to ensure a steady future supply of skilled workers.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)]

My Lords, in 2025, the Government announced a £625 million investment to train up to 60,000 more skilled workers in construction. This includes £100 million for skills bootcamps, £98 million for industry placements, £100 million to establish 10 construction technical excellence colleges, a £90 million uplift for 16-19 courses and £75 million for adult retraining. Construction will also benefit from new foundation apprenticeships, with employers receiving up to £2,000 for each apprentice they take on and retain in the industry.

[Lord Allen of Kensington (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of Balfour Beatty Plc. I welcome the steps that my noble friend the Minister outlined. Attitudes to the sector are outdated and sometimes ill informed. Attitudes toward careers in construction and infrastructure are contributing to the reduced pipeline of people coming into the sector. Almost half—47%—of young people report that construction and infrastructure careers are not even mentioned in their school’s career advice. I started life in the steel industry in Scotland as an apprentice, and I am proud to say that. What steps are being taken to ensure that career guidance in schools accurately and positively represents the significant opportunities in this important sector for Britain?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. There are well-paid, secure jobs in the construction industry. One of the benefits of my role is that I quite often get the chance to meet young people who have made that decision. We need to make sure that that message gets through in the improved careers education that we are providing in schools. Also, as part of the construction support package, we are delivering targeted communications to raise awareness of those construction careers and promote the sector as a pathway to good jobs and progression. That will increasingly focus on young people, alongside tailored promotion for women and for those returning to work, in order to spread more widely the message that my noble friend has ably communicated.

Employment, Education and Training: Young People

Lord Allen of Kensington Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I am not sure who the noble Viscount is talking about but, if he would like to speak to me afterwards, I am very happy to look into it. We want to try to reform support to make sure that every young person has the opportunity of either quality training, quality education or a job. That is our priority and that is what people need. Young people want to have a future and to get on in life, but they have to be given all the support they need to get to that point. We have a crisis among the young. We should not have as many young people between 18 and 24 not in employment, education or training as we have. This Government are determined to reduce that number.

[Lord Allen of Kensington (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the action the Government are taking. Does the Minister agree with me that employers can take a more active role in recruiting young people who are in danger of being not in education, employment or training for life —like her, I hate the phrase NEETs—into earn and learn opportunities such as apprenticeships and graduate training programmes? Will she join with me in encouraging more employers to sign up to schemes such as the incredible 5% Club, which now has 1,100 members and is employing 100,000 employees in earn and learn roles, harnessing their incredible talent to increase productivity and growth?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes an excellent point and I thank him for flagging up the 5% Club to me. I am happy to commend the work that it does, and I will make sure I share information about the club with my DfE colleagues.

On the broader point, the Government are encouraging employers to hire apprentices and host T-level placements, but also to develop closer ties with colleges and universities and to strengthen their links with, and have input into, local skills improvement plans. The noble Lord might be interested to know that we have begun work on a new foundation apprenticeship. The idea is to give more young people a foot in the door—it is a pre-apprenticeship apprenticeship, if you like—and to create clear pathways into work-based training and employment. Again, that is the first step on the way to a youth guarantee of a promise of educational training or a job for young people across the country.