Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what further measures they will take to ensure practical, vocational training is available in each region of England.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The government’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers wherever they live in England. We are building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality and fit for the future. It is also flexible enough to lead to more people completing high-quality courses that meet employers’ needs.

£3.8 billion has been invested in the skills agenda over this Parliament. The department is using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive. With this investment, we are putting employers at the heart of our skills system. This is why we are working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors.

Apprenticeships provide people of all backgrounds across the country with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career. We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, and employers have developed over 670 high-quality apprenticeships, to support all sectors to develop the skilled workforces they need. To support small and medium enterprises across the country, we continue to pay 95% of their apprenticeship training costs and have recently removed the limit on the number of apprentices they can recruit, making it easier for them to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need.

First introduced in 2020, T Levels are boosting access to high-quality technical education for young people after their GCSEs. Developed with employers so that the content meets the needs of industry, T Levels offer students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience during an industry placement of at least 45 days. T Levels are being introduced in a phased approach, with 16 T Levels currently available and over 160 providers across the country delivering.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 level 3 qualifications, A level equivalent, for free. Eligible adults include adults without a full level 3, adults earning under the National Living Wage annually (£20,319 from April 2023) or unemployed adults, regardless of their prior qualification level.

Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Skills Bootcamps are available in a variety of skill areas including digital, technical, construction, logistics (HGV driving), and skills that support the green economy. We are scaling up Skills Bootcamps delivery to 64,000 starts by the 2024/25 financial year through national procurement and grant funding to 25 Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas.

High-quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping people to make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options available to them for employment in all sectors. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is supporting schools and colleges to embed best practice in the delivery of careers information, advice and guidance. This allows young people to be aware of the full range of training and careers available to them and to have access to a broad range of employers and workplaces.

We plan to invest £300 million of capital funding to establish 21 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) across the country providing access to industry standard facilities which focus on the needs of employers and learners in their specific geographical areas. IoTs are employer-led provider organisations working in collaboration with colleges and universities, which deliver higher technical training, with the focus on level 4-5 skills.