Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the authorities at Heathrow Airport on ensuring that construction of the proposed third runway leaves an employment and skills legacy for the UK.

Heathrow Airport Limited has made a public commitment to double the number of apprenticeships to 10,000 by the time a new runway is operational. This commitment was also set out in the Statement of Principles, agreed between the Secretary of State for Transport and Heathrow Airport Limited, published in October 2016.

Additionally Heathrow Airport recently announced the development of the Heathrow Skills Task Force. Chaired by the Rt Hon, the Lord Blunkett, to identify the skills and training required to support both expansion at the airport and ensure that construction leaves a national skills legacy for future infrastructure projects.

The Government will shortly publish a draft Airports National Policy Statement for public consultation and scrutiny by Parliament setting out the planning framework for any future Development Consent Order (DCO) for additional airport capacity in the South East.