Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on developing skills academies for the construction industry.

No discussions on plans for skills academies for the construction sector have taken place.

We are working across government and in partnership with industry through the Construction Skills Delivery Group, to ensure that our skills offer meets the needs of employers in the sector, including small and medium sized enterprises.

The department’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers. We are building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality, fit for the future, and is flexible enough to lead to more people completing high quality courses that meet employers’ needs. This ambitious skills agenda is backed by £3.8 billion of investment over this Parliament. The department is using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive.

With this investment, we are putting employers at the heart of our skills system, which is why we are working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors including construction.

From August 2023 there will be a number of qualifications approved for funding in the building and construction sector including 59 at level 3 in the Free Courses for Job offer, 99 at levels 3 to 6 through Advanced Learner Loans, and 393 at entry level and level 2 through the Adult Education Budget.

Our high-quality apprenticeships are supporting people of all ages with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career in the construction sector. Employers in the construction sector have developed 99 high quality apprenticeship standards to meet their skills needs, including in occupations like level 2 scaffolder, level 3 bricklayer, and degree level 6 construction site manager.

The department has introduced innovations to support growth of training programmes in the sector. We are making apprenticeships more flexible, for example through flexi job apprenticeships. Flexi job Apprenticeships are available to employers and apprentices in two ways, one type operates with an agency and the other is apprentice-led and operates without an agency.

T Levels are strengthening vocational options for young people finishing their GCSEs. These two-year, technical qualifications are designed with relevant employers, and are equivalent in size to three A levels. T Levels in construction can lead to a range of careers in the construction sector.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 level 3 qualifications, A level equivalent, for free. There are many qualifications are available on the offer in all areas of the construction sector including engineering, skilled trades and site management.

Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Skills Bootcamps are available in a variety of skill areas including construction offering a range of courses such as construction trades and heat pump installation.

We have also introduced Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). These are current, new level 4 to 5 qualifications, approved and quality marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers. From September 2023, there will be 18 HTQs available in Construction and the Built Environment.