Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the offer and uptake of apprenticeships.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy.

In August we introduced new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.

To support employers to offer apprenticeships, the government provides £1,000 payments to employers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19 to 24-year-old apprentices who have an education, health and care plan or have been, or are, in care. Government also pays employers up to £2,000 for eligible foundation apprenticeships to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on delivering the Industrial Strategy.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The whole of government is focused on delivering the Industrial Strategy. Significant progress has already been made, with over £250bn of investment committed to Industrial Strategy sectors, supporting over 45,000 jobs, since July. We have now published all eight Sector Plans, co-developed with industry, and in October we published our first Quarterly Update – this sets out how we are already delivering on our commitments in the Industrial Strategy, reporting on the key economic indicators for our high-growth sectors, as well as delivery milestones and major investment commitments.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase skills and employment support for people receiving sickness benefits.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are taking steps to support people into work including for disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits. In our Pathways to Work Green Paper we set out our plan for the “Pathways to Work Guarantee” and we are building towards our guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. The guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by the end of the decade.

We anticipate the guarantee, once fully rolled out, will include: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement - and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.

We are already making progress and have deployed over 1000 Pathways to Work Advisors in Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales who are helping disabled people and people with health conditions towards and into work. A key focus of the Pathways to Work advisers is offering voluntary support to Universal Credit claimants with a Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) element. The support aims to help customers identify and overcome obstacles which may stop them from moving towards or into work and for those who are ready to access employment and wider skills support, and our employment programmes earlier.

Alongside this, our Supported Employment programme Connect to Work is rolling out across all of England and Wales throughout 2025 and early 2026 to help disabled people, people with health conditions and individuals with complex barriers to employment to find work and sustain work. This complements support delivered through the health and care system, including Employment Advice in Talking Therapies, which gives employment support for people being treated for mental health conditions, and WorkWell which is being trialled in 15 areas across England to deliver integrated work and health support.

More generally, DWP helps people build the skills they need to get a job and move forward in their careers. Work Coaches offer a wide range of support, including help with job searching and referrals to training opportunities. These can include apprenticeships, short skills courses, training in English, maths, and digital skills, support for learning English as a second language (ESOL), careers advice, and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase employment opportunities through public procurement.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is determined to ensure public procurement boosts jobs, growth and the economy.

The Government has updated the Social Value Model with new criteria on fair work so that suppliers are rewarded in procurements for providing good quality jobs, supporting people into work and providing their employees with additional development opportunities.

The Government has consulted on further reforms to public procurement and will provide an update on the response to the consultation and next steps in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure that post-16 education provides the necessary skills to support the economy.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department published its Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper on 20 October 2025, which sets out a comprehensive strategy to build a world-leading skills system to break down barriers to opportunity, meet student and employers’ needs, widen access to high quality education and training support innovation, research and development, and improve people’s lives.

Central to the department’s reforms will be Skills England providing an authoritative voice on the country’s current and future skills needs. Its work will inform policy and funding decisions, supporting employers in closing skills gaps.

The department is investing over £1 billion in skills packages in key areas identified in the Industrial Strategy. We are also transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer. In August, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships, and will introduce short, flexible training courses to meet business needs from April 2026.