Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate has been made of the number of UK-based seafarer rating apprentices that will be trained in the maritime industry in the next five years.
Answered by John Hayes
There has been no estimate for the number of UK-based seafarer rating apprentices that will be trained in the maritime industry in the next five years.
The Department continues to work in close collaboration with the maritime industry and Unions to identify the industry's future training needs.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on encouraging women to pursue careers in the rail industry.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
No industry can afford to miss out on talent from any gender. The Department for Transport has set an ambition for women to represent at least 20% of new entrants to engineering and technical apprenticeships in the transport sector by 2020.
I am pleased that Crossrail is exceeding this: 27% of their apprentices are female.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprenticeships have been created in his Department in each region in each of the last five years; and how many participants in those apprenticeships subsequently secured a job within the Civil Service.
Answered by John Hayes
The Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (January 2016) sets out our ambition to create 30,000 apprenticeships in the roads and rail sectors by 2020, in support of this government’s unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure. This target includes the Department for Transport, its Agencies and infrastructure client bodies – Crossrail, Transport for London, Highways England, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd, as well as each of their supply chains.
Regarding apprenticeships just within the Department for Transport – comprising the central Department and the four Executive Agencies – data is not readily available in the format requested.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the shortage of people with rail engineering, environmental and construction skills.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The transport sector faces significant skills challenges driven by a range of factors including an ageing workforce, a lack of diversity, the introduction of new technologies (such as digital signalling in rail) and the sheer scale of our transport investment programme.
The National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR) has identified rail skills shortages in signalling and telecommunications, electrification and plant, traction and rolling stock of 10,000 people between 2014 and 2019.
In response to these challenges, in August 2015 this Department appointed Crossrail chair Terry Morgan to develop the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (TISS). The TISS was published in January 2016 and the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce (STAT) was launched on 15 April 2016 as an employer-led group to oversee the delivery of the TISS recommendations andto address these skills shortages including through the delivery of 30,000 transport apprenticeships by 2020.
The Taskforce has commissioned NSAR to update skills forecasts for both road and rail. This analysis is expected to be complete by the end of December this year.
The National College for High Speed Rail will provide specialist vocational training to the next generation of engineers working on HS2 and beyond. Over 1,000 students are expected to graduate from the college each year.
Construction of the college is now officially underway and on course to open its doors to students in time for the start of the 2017-18 academic year.
Both the existing UK construction and engineering workforce as well as new entrants, such as apprentices, will benefit from the training that will be provided by the new college. The college will tackle the engineering skills shortage that is one of the industry’s biggest barriers to sustainability, productivity and growth.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) apprenticeships and (b) vocational training in the haulage industry.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Department has supported the Logistics and Supply Chain Trailblazer group in developing new apprenticeship standards for LGV drivers and Supply Chain Operators, both of which were approved for delivery in May. Both standards have been developed by employers to truly meet the needs of their sector. The new LGV Driver standard allows apprentices to gain their Category C LGV licence alongside the training and assessment for the new standard, rather than it being an entry requirement as it was under the old system.
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has an account management function to support employers to invest in apprenticeships and they are working with some of the biggest hauliers including DHL, Kuehne, Nagel and, more recently, Wincanton. The SFA is also supporting the British International Freight Association to develop a new apprenticeship standard for international freight.
Transport and logistics is also one of the 15 technical education routes set out in the Post 16 Skills Plan.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices were employed by (a) Network Rail, (b) Highways England or the Highways Agency and (c) HS2 Ltd on 15 March in each year from 2010 to 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The numbers of apprentices employed directly by Network Rail, Highways England or the Highways Agency, and HS2 Ltd. over the requested time period are set out below.
Year | Network Rail | HS2 Ltd.* | Highways England / Highways Agency |
2010 | 655 | 0 |
|
2011 | 650 | 0 |
|
2012 | 607 | 0 |
|
2013 | 610 | 0 | 24 |
2014 | 592 | 4 | 43 |
2015 | 606 | 1 | 71 |
2016 | 398** | 0 | 52 |
* For HS2 Ltd, the majority of employment and apprenticeship opportunities will be provided through the supply chain. Construction is due to begin in 2017, following Royal Assent.
**plus a further 150 to start in September 2016 at level 3, and upwards of 100+ across other levels 2 to 7
Looking forward over this Parliament to 2020, the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (January 2016) sets out our ambition to create 30,000 apprenticeships in the roads and rail sectors by 2020, in support of this government’s unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure.
This target includes the Department for Transport, its Agencies and infrastructure client bodies – Crossrail, Transport for London, Highways England Network Rail and HS2 Ltd, as well as each of their supply chains. Depending on the contract, suppliers will either create one apprenticeship for every £3 to £5m of taxpayers’ money spent, or increase the number of apprentices employed each year through the lifetime of the contract. In these cases the aim is that the number of apprenticeships created each year will equal 2.5% of the workforce.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry, and what assessment they have made of the implications of that shortage for their housing and infrastructure programmes.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is undertaking a range of activities to support skills in the infrastructure and home building sectors. These include the reform of the apprenticeship system, the new apprenticeship levy, and the National Colleges Programme - which includes the National College for High Speed Rail. From April 2015 all government procurers of construction and infrastructure projects over £10 million are to include measures in pre-qualification and contract delivery to encourage skills development.
The Construction Leadership Council and Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) have separately undertaken work to encourage more people into the construction sector, including the launch of the GO-Construct website and work with the National Careers Service and Construction Ambassadors for schools. The CITB has also been working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Armed Forces resettlement service and Local Enterprise Partnerships to encourage experienced individuals into the sector. In total, £42 million was invested by CITB, supporting 18,500 construction apprentices in 2015.
In addition, the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy, produced under the oversight of Terry Morgan, Chair of Crossrail, will set out further actions to be taken specifically to ensure the supply of skills to deliver transport infrastructure.
Assessments of demand for construction skills include the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills, which estimates that 250,000 construction and 150,000 engineering construction workers will be required to meet demand in the infrastructure sector by 2020. The CITB estimate that 224,000 new construction jobs are set to be created in the UK over the next five years.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 3.22 of English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the planned 30,000 transport-related apprenticeships which will be taken up by apprentices with special educational needs or disabilities.
Answered by Nick Boles
Apprenticeships are full time jobs with training. We do not interfere in employers’ recruitment decisions or set specific quotas for the number of apprenticeships to be taken up by people with special educational needs or disabilities.
All employers must fulfil their duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 for apprentices as they would for other employees. We believe that the overwhelming majority of young people with special educational needs and disabilities are capable of sustainable, paid employment with the right preparation and support. For many, apprenticeships are the best route into paid employment. To support this, people aged 16 and over can apply for Access to Work funding for adjustments to the workplace. In addition, reasonable adjustments are available for any qualifications within apprenticeships to ensure the apprentice has every opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 3.22 of English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision, how many apprentices with special educational needs or disabilities have not completed their transport-related apprenticeship placements.
Answered by Nick Boles
The table below shows this information for apprenticeship frameworks that are related to the transport Industry.
Table 1: Apprenticeship success rates for learners with a learning difficulty or disability on frameworks related to the transport industry (2013/14)
Frameworks | Overall Success Rate |
Aviation Operations on the Ground | 85.7% |
Driving Goods Vehicles | 70.7% |
Rail Transport Engineering | 81.0% |
Road Passenger Transport - Bus and Coach | 81.0% |
Transport Engineering and Maintenance | 96.2% |
Vehicle Body and Paint Operations | 58.3% |
Vehicle Fitting | 68.8% |
Vehicle Maintenance and Repair | 67.0% |
Vehicle Parts Operations | 72.2% |
Notes
1) Frameworks with fewer than 20 leavers are excluded.
2) Figures for learning difficulties or disabilities are based on self-declaration by the learner
The Department does not collect the information required to estimate 5 per cent club or NHS apprenticeship success rates.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprentices with special educational needs or disabilities have not completed their apprenticeship placements with a five per cent club employer.
Answered by Nick Boles
The table below shows this information for apprenticeship frameworks that are related to the transport Industry.
Table 1: Apprenticeship success rates for learners with a learning difficulty or disability on frameworks related to the transport industry (2013/14)
Frameworks | Overall Success Rate |
Aviation Operations on the Ground | 85.7% |
Driving Goods Vehicles | 70.7% |
Rail Transport Engineering | 81.0% |
Road Passenger Transport - Bus and Coach | 81.0% |
Transport Engineering and Maintenance | 96.2% |
Vehicle Body and Paint Operations | 58.3% |
Vehicle Fitting | 68.8% |
Vehicle Maintenance and Repair | 67.0% |
Vehicle Parts Operations | 72.2% |
Notes
1) Frameworks with fewer than 20 leavers are excluded.
2) Figures for learning difficulties or disabilities are based on self-declaration by the learner
The Department does not collect the information required to estimate 5 per cent club or NHS apprenticeship success rates.