Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has an assessment of the equity of opportunity of (a) the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee and (b) other upskilling initiatives for people on zero hours contracts.

The department’s skills reforms aim to provide a ladder of opportunity for everyone to succeed, regardless of their background. The ladder has two pillars of reform: opportunities and social justice, which ensure equal opportunities and access to skills and education for all, regardless of background; and strengthening higher and further education, which is strengthening the post-16 system to foster exceptional teaching, high quality provision, well managed institutions, and value for money spending.

The government has a range of skills offers for adults available, including those on zero hours contracts including:

• Investing in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34 billion in the 2022/23 funding year). The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
• The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free, which can support them to gain higher wages or a better job. This offer allows eligible learners to access a high-value level 3 qualification for free, to gain higher wages and access new job opportunities which will include people who are on zero hours contracts. Adults are eligible on the offer if they do not already have a level 3 qualification or already have a level 3 qualification but are on low wage or unemployed.
• Skills Bootcamps were introduced in 2020 to support adults to upskill and retrain in priority sectors with skills shortages, including Digital, HGV Driving, Construction and Green sectors. They are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the chance to build sector-specific skills with an offer of a job interview at the end. Skills Bootcamps are open to adults aged 19 and over who are either in work, self-employed, unemployed or returning to work after a break. The independent evaluation highlighted that Skills Bootcamps are reaching a diverse range of individuals, granting free training opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible. Employers also felt that Skills Bootcamps helped to increase the diversity of their organisation.
• The department is also delivering Multiply, which includes up to £270 million directly available for local areas in England to deliver interventions to improve adult numeracy.
• Higher technical qualifications (HTQs) are being introduced to increase the profile, prestige and uptake of higher technical education. These are level 4 and 5 qualifications that are approved, and quality marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfATE) as providing the skills employers need. HTQs are a high-quality alternative to degrees and apprenticeships that lead to positive outcomes for learners. To support the delivery of HTQs, we have announced up to approximately £117 million of funding to prime higher technical provision across the country. To help HTQs be studied flexibly and around other commitments, from September 2023, learners studying HTQs will be eligible for both tuition fee and maintenance loans whether they are studied full or part-time, on the same basis as degree level courses. HTQs will be among the first courses eligible for modular funding when the Lifelong Learning Entitlement launches in the 2025/26 annual year.