Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Claire Coutinho]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Springfield School on its outstanding achievement—he has often bent my ear about the head, Lisa Hodgkison, and the tremendous work she is doing there. We are investing £2.6 billion to increase the number of specialist school places across the country.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

14. What steps her Department is taking to support upskilling opportunities for adults.

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

19. What steps her Department is taking to support upskilling opportunities for adults.

[The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education (Robert Halfon)]

We have a range of programmes designed for adults to upskill. Skills bootcamps are free flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, offering learners the opportunity to develop skills with the offer of a job interview, and we delivered 16,120 training places over the last year, 2021-22. Following the commitment of £550 million at the spending review in autumn 2021, we are making thousands more training places available.

[Andrew Jones]

Harrogate College in my constituency can, in certain circumstances, contribute towards childcare to help adults study, when that is a factor preventing them from upskilling. Will my right hon. Friend be reviewing what more can be done to remove any barriers that prevent adults from renewing and updating their skills?

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend is a champion of Harrogate College, and I do not think he will have any problem with his college doing the things he has described, because it has been recognised as having an outstanding adult learning programme. It has been allocated more than £400,000 from the adult education budget this academic year to help the adults in the non-devolved areas, including Harrogate.