Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal support his Department is providing to help increase the number of skilled jobs in Rother Valley in the next (a) year, (b) 5 years and (c) ten years.

This government is committed to ensuring that the education and skills system is truly responsive to local needs. That is why at the most recent Spending Review, the government announced the biggest long-term settlement for post-16 education in England since 2015, rising to £3.8bn by 2024-25 over this Parliament. This included the first increase to apprenticeships funding since 2019-2020 – it will rise from £2.5bn in 2021-22 to £2.7bn in 2024-25, investment in Skills Bootcamps to retrain adults, and funding for thousands of T Levels students. This funding will impact areas like the Rother Valley in the short, medium and long term.

The government has built on this commitment by delivering a range of measures in places like the Rother Valley, including bringing employers, providers, and stakeholders in a local area together to drive short, medium and long term change through Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIP).