Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the failure to agree a deal to build a gigafactory in Cambois on (a) the Gen Zero Campus in Ashington and (b) Energy Central Campus in Blyth.

The Ashington campus of Northumberland College is one of the 16 large scale transformational projects that are being delivered by the department in partnership with colleges, as part of the £1.5 billion Further Education Capital Transformation Programme. The 16 colleges in this phase of the programme have some of the worst condition sites in England. The new campus in Ashington is a Gen-Zero development, designed to be ultra-low carbon in both construction and operation, and will provide exciting career pathways for learners across Northumberland and the wider region. The department is funding this project in order to improve the condition of the further education college estate and its investment is not linked to the gigafactory.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities state that the case for the Energy Central Campus in Blyth was based on an assessment of existing net zero skills requirements across the North-East of England. Progress on construction of Phase 1, the Energy Central Learning Hub, is progressing well, with the Hub on course to open in autumn 2024.