Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support businesses to invest in skills and training in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

The department’s Industrial Strategy outlines key interventions to boost employer engagement with the skills system. These include:

• Shorter and foundation apprenticeships in priority sectors.
• New short courses in England, funded by the growth and skills levy from April 2026.
• Cross-sector skills packages in areas like digital, engineering and defence.
• A £625 million construction skills package to train up to 60,000 workers this Parliament.

This investment will be supported by stronger employer partnerships, including the launch of technical excellence colleges to build local talent pipelines.

Additionally, the chair of Skills England, alongside the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, will explore how employers, individuals and government can collaborate to meet national skills needs and drive future job growth.