Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen employment opportunities in sectors experiencing the sharpest decline in job opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following a peak during the pandemic, vacancies are returning to their long-term average. There are currently 728k vacancies, slightly above the long-term series average of 696k.
We recognise the need to provide working-age adults with the support they need to pursue opportunities in the workforce, which is essential for economic growth.
We are already delivering the biggest overhaul of jobcentres in a generation, backed by £240 million investment to boost employment.
By bringing apprenticeships, adult further education, skills training, careers guidance, and Skills England under DWP’s remit, we’re creating strong pathways to support the millions of people across the country.
This will mean a greater focus on adult skills and career outcomes, getting people into skilled work in sectors that need labour – like construction.
Part of our approach is the use of DWP’s Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) that help employers with immediate and future employment needs by upskilling benefit claimants to fill local job vacancies.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to help young people (a) develop skills and (b) access opportunities in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As announced in the spending review, the department is making over £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.
This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country, including South-East Cornwall. This includes:
There are a number of post-16 education and training providers in Cornwall delivering further education and skills provision. The largest of these is Cornwall College, judged as overall Outstanding in their latest Ofsted inspection, and which has campuses throughout Cornwall.
We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support young farmers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Encouraging more young people into farming and land-based careers is vital to ensure a skilled workforce is in place and the longer-term viability of the sector.
Defra works closely with The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) which is encouraging young people and new entrants into farming in its capacity as an industry led professional body for the farming industry. This includes leading a cross-industry initiative to address common negative misconceptions about the sector and providing free TIAH membership for students.
Furthermore, the Government has launched Skills England to ensure there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers to access, which are aligned with skills gaps and what employers need. It will work with its partners to ensure that regional and national skills needs are met.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department plans to strengthen enforcement powers against employers who misrepresent jobs as apprenticeships in order to (a) pay below the National Minimum Wage and (b) use apprentices as cover for absent employees.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that individuals who have been paid below the statutory minimum wage in circumstances involving mislabelled apprenticeships are compensated.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to introduce additional safeguards to prevent the mislabelling of jobs as apprenticeships.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Employers are required by law to pay their apprentices the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage. An apprenticeship combines on the job learning and classroom-based learning. Employers cannot call a worker an apprentice if they are not genuinely an apprentice.
The existing enforcement mechanisms in place already protects workers and we are creating the Fair Work Agency to deliver a much-needed upgrade to enforcement of employment rights. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses on how to comply with the law and will take tough action against rogue employers who exploit their workers.
If a worker believes they are not being paid correctly, they can seek confidential advice. If HMRC finds an employer has underpaid their workers, the employer is required to pay back the full amount owed to the worker and a penalty to the government.
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of skilled staff for small businesses; and what measures they are taking to support workforce development and training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Employer Skills Survey provides robust evidence about skills shortages in the labour market and skills gaps in the workforce. In 2024, skill-shortage vacancies were higher among businesses with two to four employees compared to those with 100 or more (42% vs 19%). Regarding internal skill gaps, the proportion of employees judged not fully proficient at their job was lower for businesses with two to four employees compared to those with 100 or more (1.8% vs 4.6%).
We have established Skills England as the single authoritative voice on the country’s current and future skills needs. It will ensure the views of all businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are considered to build a system delivering better skills for better jobs. It is already responding to employer need, including SME employers, by developing the first foundation apprenticeships and first short apprenticeships which will give employers greater flexibility in key sectors.
It is tackling barriers to small business engagement by reducing bureaucracy and duplication. Through collaboration with local partners, it is shaping high quality Local Skills Improvement Plans, which are empowering local areas to better align skills provision with local labour market needs, including helping to meet the ongoing workforce development and training needs of SMEs.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to engage with young people to promote recruitment in the Armed Forces.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 is clear that Defence must now meet the longstanding challenge of recruiting and retaining new generations with different requirements. We are committed to the vision that long-term success depends on reconnecting society with the Armed Forces and the purpose of Defence, and for recruitment the focus should be on speed, drastically shortening the period between applicants expressing interest and joining.
To achieve this, Defence will offer novel ways of entry into the Armed Forces that attract more people from a wider range of backgrounds. The Army and Navy are developing short term employment opportunities - “gap year” schemes - for young men and women across a variety of exciting roles that will upskill, provide apprenticeships, and a flavour of life in the Armed Forces. Full plans will be announced in due course now that we have published the SDR.
Furthermore, the Armed Forces enjoy good relationships with schools, primarily in terms of engagement to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths curriculum areas but also in careers engagement, which collectively enhances our engagement with young people. The Armed Forces only visit schools when invited to do so, usually in support of career events, citizenship talks, science and maths challenges and other exercises.
The Armed Forces do not target recruitment activity at under-16s, and no visits to schools by the Armed Forces are directly linked to recruitment, other than careers fairs which generally involve a range of employers. Presentations may be given highlighting Armed Forces careers, but no pupil is ever signed up or able to make a commitment to become a recruit during the course of a visit.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with industry bodies on strengthening (a) apprenticeships and (b) training routes in the hospitality sector to support small and medium-sized businesses in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government offers a range of training options, including apprenticeships and BTECs, to support employers of all sizes in the hospitality sector to benefit from and develop the skilled workforces they need.
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) give small and medium businesses a stronger role in identifying local skills issues and working collaboratively with skills providers and other local stakeholders to resolve them. From October, Business West and Somerset Chamber of Commerce will begin the process of developing a new 3-year LSIP for Somerset, which includes the Yeovil constituency.
The department and Skills England engage regularly with the hospitality sector, including industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, regarding training for the sector and the government’s plans for skills.
To support apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been, or are, in local authority care, when they undertake apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers.
The government also continues to pay £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a budget for retraining programmes for adult workers transitioning from oil and gas to renewable energy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Green skills are essential to driving economic growth and achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050. Clean energy and advanced manufacturing have been identified as priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy.
To support this, the government will invest an additional £1.2 billion annually in skills by 2028/29, expanding opportunities across high-growth industries. As part of this, over £100 million will be directed toward engineering skills development through education, apprenticeships, and the establishment of Technical Excellence Colleges in key sectors like advanced manufacturing.
The government will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the adult skills fund in the 2025/26 academic year. This includes funding the Free Courses for Jobs offer, which gives eligible adults the chance to access a high value level 3 qualification for free, helping support them to gain higher wages or a better job in key sectors, for example in heat pump installation.
The government will also support adult learners through our technical education offer, including through a range of apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps.