Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the provision of high quality construction training.

The government has recently announced a £22 million Construction Skills Fund, for which bids will open in July 2018. This initiative will bring training to working construction sites, allowing learners to apply their knowledge in a real workplace, and easing their transition into their new career. The fund is designed to meet the needs of employers and people wanting to join the construction industry, particularly adult learners. This will also increase opportunities for work placements in the long-term and support the delivery of high quality construction T Levels by 2020.

The construction industry’s structure is dominated by small businesses and is cyclical, with a weak record of investment, including in skills. It is therefore one of two industries which has an industry training board, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), funded by a sector levy, to oversee and coordinate skills demand. We published a review of CITB last autumn and it is now embarking on a transformational reform programme. Reforms will see the CITB refocus on its core mission of working with industry to make sure there is availability and access to high quality construction training provision in order to meet the industry’s skills needs.

We are developing new T Level programmes which are central to reforming technical education, to improve workforce skills and drive productivity growth. One of the first three T Levels to be delivered from 2020 will be in Construction. The outline content for this T Level was developed by employers and published on 25 May.

Apprenticeships provide people of all ages with the opportunity to progress in work and life, giving them a clear route to success. We will create three million quality apprenticeships in England; making them longer and better, with more off-the job training and an assessment at the end. New apprenticeship standards across all levels are being designed and driven by industry; creating higher quality training that will lead to a more skilled and productive economy.