Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 20 December 2018 (HL12347), what measures they plan to raise the intake of apprentices to the construction, planning and built environment sector from 22,660 in 2017–18 to the level required to meet the level of annual retirement from that sector's workforce.

To stimulate apprenticeship growth across all sectors, we are first and foremost making sure that apprenticeships are a quality product recognised by individuals and employers, setting individuals on a path to a good career and providing employers with the home-grown skills they need to grow their businesses and increase productivity.

These standards are being developed by employer groups, including groups in the construction, planning and built environment sector. Apprenticeships now available in the sector include Construction Site Engineering Technician, Installation Electrician and Civil Engineering Site Management.

The Construction Sector Deal commits the industry to the provision of 25,000 apprenticeship starts by 2025. We are supporting industry to take advantage of our reforms by making sure that there are relevant apprenticeship standards in place. For example, the Construction Sector Deal target is 50, and 66 new high quality standards are available.

The department has committed £24 million to deliver the Construction Skills Fund, which is supporting and incentivising innovative and employer-led approaches to construction training by funding on-site training hubs across England. The fund is being administered by the Construction Industry Training Board on behalf of the department.

Although apprenticeships are a major recruitment method for this sector, we are also supporting the delivery of classroom-based learning which is sector-specific. Construction is one of the first T level routes to launch, with the first pathway available from 2020. Through the Construction Sector Deal, the industry committed to making sure that 1000 work placements for T level students would be available at launch, and the industry sees the work experience element of the T level as crucial in making sure that students are ‘site-ready’ on completion of their qualification.