Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the level of transparency of the Construction Industry Training Board's administration of levy income and grants.

The department is reviewing the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) as part of the Post-16 Skills Plan in July 2016. Along with ministers in DCLG and BEIS, I published an open letter to the Chair of CITB in July 2017 which confirms government support for CITB, conditional on reform and industry support during the vote taking place on the levy rate during summer 2017. It is my intention to publish the Industry Training Board (ITB) Review in October 2017.

The CITB produces and publishes information regarding the administration of its grant scheme as part of its Annual Report, which was laid before Parliament on 29 June 2017. CITB also published a funding impact report on 1 September 2017, which set out how CITB grants are used to support training in industry.

CITB have recently developed and publicised significant plans for reform, including plans to automate and digitalise the payment of grants to employers that will reduce administrative burden, particularly for small business. These reforms will supplement and reinforce any proposals to help increase the transparency of CITB’s decision making, and accountability to industry, made in the ITB Review.