Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support lifelong learning and skills development for adult workers needing to re-skill after the covid-19 outbreak.

The government has made a significant £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) funding commitment to the National Skills Fund. This is a substantial investment that provides a great opportunity to help workers and employers to have the skills they need to flourish and fulfil their potential.

We are continuing to develop detailed proposals for the fund at pace, including considering how it could link to wider government COVID-19 recovery work. We will continue to review how the National Skills Fund can best meet the needs of individuals and employers.

The National Skills Fund is just one part of a wider programme to reform the post-16 skills system that will ensure businesses and individuals are able to meet the challenges of the new economy.

Alongside the National Skills Fund, the department has been working to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. We have announced measures across a range of targeted work-based training offers to support people to build the skills they need to get into work. This includes:

• £17 million to triple the number of sector-based work academy programme placements;
• A new payment of £1,500 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over; and
• £32 million to help 269,000 more people receive advice from the National Careers Service.

We also launched The Skills Toolkit in April, a new online platform, giving access to free, high-quality digital and numeracy courses to help people build up their skills, progress in work and boost job prospects. We will shortly be announcing the expansion of this offer.

The government appreciates the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances. We will continue to explore options within adult education to aid the post-COVID recovery.