Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department made of the impact of the aviation sector on the UK economy when preparing The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the fact that the aviation sector was not explicitly referenced in that Strategy on aviation skills and training provision.

Sectors assessments are outlined in the Industrial Strategy Technical Annex, published on GOV.UK. The Industrial Strategy and Post-16 Education & Skills White Paper set out detail on how the government is investing in skills, including a £182m engineering package targeted at engineering skills shortages.

On the aviation workforce specifically, the Generation Aviation Programme is a government–industry collaboration that helps build a future-ready aviation workforce by raising awareness of aviation careers, removing barriers to access, and attracting diverse, talented people to address new technologies, decarbonisation, and emerging trends. It delivers five workstreams: outreach, championing the sector, signposting training and careers, industry partnerships, and research and data. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/generation-aviation-group.