Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase collaboration between colleges and employers.

Local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) will place employers at the heart of local skills systems and facilitate direct and more dynamic working arrangements between employers, colleges, and other skills providers.

Building on the experience from last year’s trailblazers, the department is making good progress on rolling out LSIPs. On 1 September, we announced the designation of employer representative bodies to lead on the development of LSIPs in 37 of the 38 areas across the country. Once developed, LSIPs will set out the priorities for a local area to make technical education and skills training more responsive to employers’ needs, and to help people develop the skills they need to get good jobs.

LSIPs will build on the excellent provider-employer collaboration that has already been developed through apprenticeships, T Levels, and our wider skills reforms.