Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage further and higher education providers to work with businesses to help meet local skills needs.

We are transforming skills through local skills improvement plans, which bring together businesses with further and higher education institutions. The plans are supported by £165 million of funding which helps providers respond to the skills needs identified by local businesses. We are also investing £300 million in Institutes of Technology, which are collaborations between business, higher education and further education, further driving our employer-led reforms.