Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report by the East of England APPG and East of England Local Government Association entitled Levelling Up in the East of England: the Region’s Progress towards the Government’s Twelve Levelling Up Missions, published on 13 December 2022, if she will take steps to implement the recommendations in that report on delivering more in-work education provision and participation in (a) further education and (b) skills training for adults.

Workplace activity is already a key element of our skills programmes. This includes apprenticeships, which give employees hands-on training to start and progress in work and offer a high quality alternative to academic and classroom-based qualifications. We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25.

New T Levels are high quality, technical qualifications and every T Level student must complete a mandatory industry placement of a minimum of 45 days. This must take place with an external employer. We will be investing up to £500 million extra a year for T Levels once they are fully rolled out.

The department is investing £1.6 billion through the National Skills Fund across the 2022 to 2025 financial years. This includes up to £550 million to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps and Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs, so that more adults across all regions of the country can access the training. New Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks for adults aged 19 or over, which give adults the opportunity to build valuable, sector-specific skills, based on local employer demand and provide a direct path to a job on completion.