Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made towards creating new employer-led further education institutions throughout the UK similar to the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure.

Institutes of Technology (IoTs) are employer-led further education institutions focussing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. IoTs are a different model to National Colleges as they are a collaboration bringing together existing further education providers with higher education institutions and employers, to lead delivery of higher-level technical STEM skills to drive future economic growth operating across England at a sub-regional scale.

Eight IoTs are already operational with a further 4 approved: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/institutes-of-technology--2. A second competition for additional IoTs is to be launched later this year. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/institutes-of-technology-wave-2-competition-prospectus.