Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to make an announcement on progress relating to the national retraining scheme.

The National Retraining Scheme is an ambitious and far reaching programme to drive adult retraining, driven by a key partnership between the Confederation of British Industry, the Trade Union Congress and the government.

In the 2018 Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £100 million initial commitment to continue to develop the service, while allowing us to start the roll out of initial elements of the National Retraining Scheme to a small intake this summer. This is being informed by the extensive amount of user research we have undertaken and our ongoing Career Learning pilots, Flexible Learning fund and the Construction Industry Training Board Construction Skills fund. We envisage this first release will include high quality information, advice and guidance to help those whose jobs are at risk of automation to find training that will give them the skills to move into a better, more stable jobs.