Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Spring Statement 2025, published on 26 March 2025, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for (a) improving skills and (b) increasing recruitment in the construction sector in the context of trends in apprenticeship retention rates.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to addressing skills shortages in the construction sector and supporting workforce growth. In the Spring Statement 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £625 million investment to train 60,000 skilled construction workers by 2029, supporting the delivery of 1.5 million homes and economic growth. This includes £165 million for college construction courses, £100 million for ten new Technical Excellence Colleges, and £32 million via the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) for 40,000 industry placements annually.

From August, new foundation apprenticeships, backed by a £3 billion apprenticeship budget, will launch, with construction among the key sectors. Employers will receive £2,000 for each foundation apprentice, and three new construction standards will be introduced. CITB is also expanding its New Entrant Support Team, while partnerships like the Persimmon Homes Academy are improving retention and progression.

In addition, the department recently announced over £190 million in additional funding for 16 to 19 education in 2025/26, including £160 million for colleges and £30 million for school-based provision. This is in addition to construction-specific skills funding.

To further support teaching capacity, we are expanding initiatives such as Taking Teaching Further, targeted retention payments, and a £20 million Teacher Industry Exchange scheme, promoting collaboration between further education providers and construction employers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of skilled workers entering employment as a result of construction skills funding in the Spring Statement 2025.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to addressing skills shortages in the construction sector and supporting workforce growth. In the Spring Statement 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £625 million investment to train 60,000 skilled construction workers by 2029, supporting the delivery of 1.5 million homes and economic growth. This includes £165 million for college construction courses, £100 million for ten new Technical Excellence Colleges, and £32 million via the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) for 40,000 industry placements annually.

From August, new foundation apprenticeships, backed by a £3 billion apprenticeship budget, will launch, with construction among the key sectors. Employers will receive £2,000 for each foundation apprentice, and three new construction standards will be introduced. CITB is also expanding its New Entrant Support Team, while partnerships like the Persimmon Homes Academy are improving retention and progression.

In addition, the department recently announced over £190 million in additional funding for 16 to 19 education in 2025/26, including £160 million for colleges and £30 million for school-based provision. This is in addition to construction-specific skills funding.

To further support teaching capacity, we are expanding initiatives such as Taking Teaching Further, targeted retention payments, and a £20 million Teacher Industry Exchange scheme, promoting collaboration between further education providers and construction employers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the capital budget for flood defences was in each of the last three fiscal years; and what the capital budget for flood defences is for each year of the 2025 Spending Review period.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are investing £2.65 billion over two years in 2024/25 to 2025/26 maintain, repair, and build flood defences. As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Spending Review settlement committed a further £4.2 billion total investment over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to construct new flood schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across the country. This is £1.4 billion on average each year – a 5% increase on the current average of £1.33 billion over 2024/25 and 2025/26. Further details will be published at Main Estimates.

Information on previous years spend is published as part of the Environment Agency Section 18 reports which can be found here Flood and coastal erosion risk management annual report - GOV.UK.

We are consulting on proposals for reforming flood defence funding, protecting all communities including rural, coastal, and poorer areas.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the research published by IoD entitled IoD research finds employment law reforms will damage UK economic growth, published on 6 June 2025.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

My department has published a set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This analysis includes con-sideration of impacts on economic growth. This analysis is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

This represents the best estimate for the likely impacts, including on economic growth, given the current stage of policy development. We are refining our analysis as policy development continues, working closely with external experts, businesses and trade unions.

The department regularly meets with the Institute of Directors to discuss a range of policies included in the Employment Rights Bill and, as with all stakeholders, we value the insight they provide.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Ofgem's readiness criteria for the UK data centre sector on growth in that sector.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government has worked closely with Ofgem and NESO on major reforms to the grid connections process. These reforms are expected to deprioritise up to 500GW of excess generation and storage capacity from the connections queue, freeing up capacity for viable connection customers across GB, such as data centres. The ‘readiness’ criteria will ensure that limited grid capacity is allocated fairly, prioritising connection offers for projects, including data centres, that are demonstrably ready to deliver – helping maximise efficient use of the network. The AI Energy Council will also consider grid connections opportunities for growth in the data centre sector.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what budget was allocated to the Office for Investment in the spending review 2025.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

£3.8 billion was allocated to The Department for Business and Trade as part of the Spending Review, which includes funding for the Office for Investment (OfI). As set out previously, (9th June), the OfI's budget for FY 2025/6 is £24,671,291.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to issue embargoed copies of the industrial strategy.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Industrial Strategy will be published shortly, and the department is currently finalising plans for publication.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Harriett Baldwin (Chair); Chris Coghlan; Bobby Dean; John Glen

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Harriett Baldwin (Chair); Chris Coghlan; Bobby Dean; John Glen

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Harriett Baldwin (Chair); Chris Coghlan; Bobby Dean; John Glen

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Harriett Baldwin (Chair); Rachel Blake; Chris Coghlan; Bobby

Found: Added_NC14 Kim Leadbeater Rebecca Paul Dame Harriett Baldwin Liz Jarvis Carla Denyer Lewis Atkinson

Found: Olney Graham Stuart Saqib Bhatti Sir Iain Duncan Smith Damian Hinds Danny Kruger Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Olney Graham Stuart Saqib Bhatti Sir Iain Duncan Smith Damian Hinds Danny Kruger Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Olney Graham Stuart Saqib Bhatti Sir Iain Duncan Smith Damian Hinds Danny Kruger Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: _NC5 Sir Iain Duncan Smith Mr Mark Francois Wendy Morton Greg Smith Carolyn Harris Dame Harriett Baldwin

Found: Added_NC14 Kim Leadbeater Rebecca Paul Dame Harriett Baldwin Liz Jarvis Carla Denyer Lewis Atkinson

Found: REPORT STAGE Friday 13 June 2025 12 _NC14 Kim Leadbeater Rebecca Paul Dame Harriett Baldwin Liz Jarvis

Found: _NC14 Kim Leadbeater Rebecca Paul Dame Harriett Baldwin Liz Jarvis Carla Denyer Lewis Atkinson