Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the annual running costs of the proposed new body, Skills England.

Skills England will identify current and future skills gaps and put in place plans to address those gaps, bringing together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions.

Skills England will be established in phases over the next 9 to 12 months to create a responsive and collaborative skills system. The Skills England Bill announced in the King’s Speech will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to Skills England.

Operational budgets for Skills England will be finalised over the set-up period. However, the department does not envisage an increase in running costs for transferring and delivering functions that are currently being undertaken by different organisations or teams.