Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Gary Sambrook Excerpts
Tuesday 27th April 2021

(3 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kemi Badenoch Portrait Kemi Badenoch
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I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I mentioned in my answer to the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) the steps that we are taking to decarbonise the UK steel industry. As I said, there are global challenges in the industry and we have been supporting various companies. For example, last year, we provided a £30 million loan to Celsa, safeguarding a key supplier to the UK construction industry and securing more than 1,000 jobs, including more than 800 positions at the company’s main sites in south Wales. The Government will continue working with businesses to understand the issues that they are facing, including continuing to engage business sectors that are affected by covid and our changing relationship with the EU.

Gary Sambrook Portrait Gary Sambrook (Birmingham, Northfield) (Con)
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What fiscal steps his Department is taking to support the (a) retraining and (b) upskilling of workers.

Alexander Stafford Portrait Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)
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What fiscal steps his Department is taking to support the (a) retraining and (b) upskilling of workers.

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Rishi Sunak Portrait The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rishi Sunak)
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Our plan for jobs supports retraining and upskilling by tripling the number of traineeships, expanding sector-based work academies, incentivising apprenticeship hiring and providing funding for new, free, advanced technical courses and digital skills bootcamps under the lifetime skills guarantee.

Gary Sambrook Portrait Gary Sambrook
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People across Birmingham, Northfield remember only too well the impact that an economic shock can have on livelihoods and jobs in the community following the collapse of MG Rover many years ago. Does my right hon. Friend the Chancellor agree that things such as the lifetime skills guarantee will allow many adults to to train and retrain to get back into work so that they have the security of a pay packet as we ease out of lockdown and build back better following the coronavirus pandemic?

Rishi Sunak Portrait Rishi Sunak
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Across our nation, over 10 million adults do not have a level 3 qualification. Thanks to this Government’s lifetime skills guarantee, they will now be able to get one, and we know what that will do: it will boost both their employability and their earnings, providing them with the opportunity of a better future.