Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support employers in closing skills gaps.

On 20^th October, Government published the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy, which sets out our vision for a world-leading skills system to break down barriers to opportunity, meet student and employers’ needs; widen access to high-quality education and training; support innovation, research, and development; and improve people’s lives.

This sets out our reforms to the skills system, which will be joined up, data driven and delivered in partnership with employers and regional leaders, who know best how to support people and tackle skills gaps locally.

Central to our reforms will be Skills England, with one of its key roles being to provide an authoritative voice on the country’s current and future skills needs. Skills England has already published two assessments of skills needs, Skills for growth & opportunity and the Assessment of priority skills to 2030, and it will continue to build on these. It will provide an assessment of national, regional and sectoral skills needs in the economy now and in the future, combining statistical data with insights generated from key stakeholders. This forward-looking analysis will support the development of a robust evidence base to inform policy and funding decisions, supporting employers in closing skills gaps.

We are also transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy. In August we introduced new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. Additionally, we want employers to be able to use the levy on short, flexible training courses to meet their business needs from April 2026. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.