Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 119 of the Government's Industrial Strategy, if she will publish the programmes to be funded through the £34 million investment in innovative construction training programmes in the (a) Liverpool City Region and (b) UK.

The funding for construction skills was announced in the Budget, as part of the National Retraining Scheme. Most of the funding will be a construction skills fund for England, which will support the government’s ambition to build many more new homes during this parliament.

The department will publish criteria for the fund early next year. The fund will help to build construction training facilities attached to housing developments, and will support adult students to retrain as construction workers. We will welcome bids from colleges and developers from across the country.

There will also be £5 million for construction skills in the West Midlands, as part of the second devolution deal.