Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to address the national skills gap in the construction industry.

The Department works closely with the Department for Education (DfE) which is responsible for skills policy and also the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the body that supports training and skills in construction.

DfE is currently working with employers in the construction industry to develop new apprenticeships for the sector. While evidence suggests there are sufficient learners going through the skills system, with over 200,000 construction qualifications being taken each year, reforms set out in the skills plan (July 2016) will ensure these qualifications become more relevant and better meet the industry’s needs.

In addition, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), the business led sector council which advises Government on key strategic issues, has investigated the labour model in construction and commissioned an independent report from Mark Farmer (published in October 2016):

http://www.constructionleadershipcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Farmer-Review.pdf.

We will set out shortly how we are taking forward the report’s recommendations with the CLC.