James Asser

The Government recognises that grassroots sports facilities are at the beating heart of communities up and down the country and is acting to support more people to get active wherever they live through the delivery of the £123 million Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2024/25.

Community facilities provide important places for people of all ages to be active, as well as vital social spaces and community hubs. The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to, and benefit from, quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government encourages local leaders to prioritise access to sport and physical activity wherever possible. Local Authorities are responsible for decisions regarding sport and leisure provision in their area.

The department is developing a comprehensive strategy for post‐16 education and skills, to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce, and drive economic growth through our Industrial Strategy.

My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills’ keynote speech on 12 November at the Association of Colleges conference recommitted to this pledge, and to working collaboratively with the sector to bring forward this strategy, building on the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the introduction of Skills England, and with a continued focus on lifelong learning.

This will launch an opportunity for further and higher education sectors, local government, learners, and employers to shape the government’s long-term strategy for skills, as well as work across government to ensure the department leverages skills in driving progress against all government missions.

Skills England is being established to build a high-skill, high-productivity workforce that is matched to employers’ needs. It will unify the skills landscape by bringing together large and small businesses with training providers, regional actors, national government, unions and other key partners. It will identify priority skills gaps, help ensure the growth and skills offer delivers value for money, meets the needs of business and ensure that the workforce is equipped with the skills needed to power economic growth.

Skills England will provide authoritative assessments of national and regional skills needs now and for the future, combining the best available statistical data with insights generated from employers and other key stakeholders.

This deep understanding of skills needs will provide a solid platform on which central government, Skills England, employers, providers, unions and regional organisations can come together to make effective decisions on where to focus to close skills gaps and mismatches. It will work closely with the Industrial Strategy Council to ensure that training schemes drive growth in the national economy.

Its work will include ensuring that there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications available that are aligned with what employers need. It will also play a crucial role in identifying which training should be eligible for the Growth and Skills offer and will work closely with employers to ensure that occupational standards meet their needs.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) also give employers a more strategic role in the skills system and support the department’s long-term priority to drive local economic growth. Across all areas of England, LSIPs have helped engage thousands of local businesses and have brought them together with local providers and stakeholders to collaboratively agree and deliver actions to better align provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs.

The department’s reformed growth and skills offer, which will have apprenticeships at its core, will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers, including through shorter duration apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high-quality skills at work, and fuelling innovation in businesses across the UK. Our reformed offer will be realigned with our industrial strategy, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, including construction, digital and technology and clean energy industries.

The department is supporting industry to use existing skills flexibilities to deliver apprenticeship training, including through the work of the National Housebuilding Council and Construction Industry Training Board in their creation of housebuilding training hubs to make 5,000 more construction industry apprenticeship places available per year.

The department has also begun work to develop new foundation apprenticeships, a training offer that will give more young people a foot in the door and supporting clear pathways and progression in work-based training and employment.

The department is also continuing outreach work in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme and targeting young people through the Skills for Life campaign.

​​The department continues to support the take-up of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in further education (FE). Skills, including STEM skills, are crucial for the delivery of the government’s missions. That is why the department is building a coherent, flexible, high-quality skills system to break down barriers to opportunity and drive economic growth, underpinned by a new post-16 skills and education strategy.

​The department is setting up Skills England to bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to help meet the skills needs of the next decade. Aligned to the government’s industrial strategy, this work will also be underpinned by Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) which help make technical education and training more responsive to local labour market and employer needs.

The department will continue to support learners who wish to have a career in STEM through its technical education offer, with a range of high-quality qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities at all levels. Examples of this include:

• 12 T Levels in STEM subjects, including engineering, science, digital and media.

• ​Over 370 employer-designed apprenticeship standards in STEM, including level 3 Cyber Security Technician, level 4 Software Developer and level 6 Civil Engineer (degree).

• ​Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) in STEM, such as a foundation degree in biomedical sciences, Higher National Certificate in electronic systems, or Higher National Diploma in space technologies.

HTQs are level 4 to 5 qualifications, approved and quality marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education as providing skills in demand by employers. To date, 169 HTQs have been approved across Digital, Construction, and Health and Science routes.

​In October, the department expanded eligibility for retention incentives to include early career FE teachers in key STEM and technical subjects. FE teachers can apply for the payment between 14 October 2024 and 31 March 2025 on GOV.UK accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/targeted-retention-incentive-payments-for-fe-teachers. This targeted retention incentive gives eligible teachers in disadvantaged schools and all colleges up to £6,000 after tax. This has doubled the previous retention payments paid to school teachers and is now available to eligible teachers at all FE colleges, for the first time.

​Access to future employers is critical for young people making decisions on their careers and it should not be limited to who they or their parents and guardians know. The department’s ambition is to offer a guarantee of two weeks’ worth of high-quality work experience to all young people, irrespective of their background.

To support young people with careers information, advice and guidance, the Careers and Enterprise Company, back by £30 million of government funding in 2024/25, coordinates a national network of Careers Hubs which now includes 93% of secondary schools and colleges. The network includes 400 leading employers and around 4,000 business volunteers, including many in STEM occupations. The department’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks, includes a clear expectation that all 11 to 18-year-olds should have at least one meaningful interaction with employers per year. This should include a STEM-focused encounter or event before year 11.

This Government is committed to supporting businesses and communities that make our high streets successful.

This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, rolling out banking hubs, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, reforming the apprenticeship levy, and reforming business rates.

We will also use High Street Rental Auctions, to provide local authorities in England with a tool to tackle vacancy, promote minimum letting standards for commercial units and flexible rents.

The London Borough of Newham has received UK Shared Prosperity Funding which, amongst other uses, has helped support local businesses in building their financial sustainability.

Our Small Business Strategy Command Paper, to be published in 2025, will set out this Government’s intentions on supporting small businesses across key areas, including thriving high streets.