Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve (a) work-related training and (b) adult skills development.

We have recently introduced reforms to improve the quality and quantity of apprenticeships. Our reforms have fundamentally changed what apprenticeships are, and the long-term opportunities they can provide. Employers have been central to the changes – designing apprenticeship standards to ensure that apprentices receive the training employers need in the workplace.

T levels will also be introduced from 2020, which are a high quality alternative to academic education and will include a substantial work placement for all students. Employers are at the heart of these reforms, playing a vital role in the co-creation of programmes meaning that T levels will have real labour market value – recognised by employers and students as prestigious and meaningful qualifications.

We have also launched two Career Learning pilots to test new approaches to tackling the barriers to career learning over the next two years. The first is a Flexible Learning Fund of up to £10 million to support projects which design and test flexible and accessible ways of delivering learning to working adults with low or intermediate skills. The second pilots will test the best ways to reach adults, including those in work, and incentivise them to undertake additional training.

At the Autumn Budget, we announced that we are developing a new National Retraining Scheme - to drive adult learning and retraining. The Scheme will include a phased series of impactful interventions starting in 2018, the first of which will be an employer-driven programme focused on the construction industry.

Advanced Learner Loans are already established and provide extensive coverage of regulated qualifications at Level 3 to Level 6, helping meet the up-front tuition fees for learners aged 19 and above - removing one of the main barriers to adult learning.