Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Engineering UK Levelling up engineering skills: widening opportunities for young people, published in February.

The department welcomes the report into levelling up engineering skills. It agrees that engineers and engineering technicians from all backgrounds have an important role to play in the UK economy.

To support engineering and increase take-up, the government has committed substantial spending to improve teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in schools and colleges. This includes funding the advanced mathematics support programme to support schools and colleges to improve the effectiveness of level 3 mathematics teaching and increase participation.

We are raising awareness of apprenticeships through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme, which has reached over 2 million students across England since its introduction in the 2016/17 academic year. In February 2022, during National Apprenticeship Week, the department wrote to all year 11, 12, and 13 pupils and their parents to tell them about the great opportunities offered through apprenticeships.

The government is proud to be rolling out T Levels. We are working closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) and ASK programme to ensure the benefits of a high-quality technical education are communicated to students. In January 2022, the department launched the Get the Jump campaign. The campaign helps 14 to 19-year-olds explore all their education and training options. We recognise that technical education routes have lower levels of awareness. Therefore, this campaign spotlights T Levels, apprenticeships, traineeships, and Higher Technical Qualifications in particular. We hope that organisations concerned about the supply of engineering skills to the economy, including Engineering UK, will wish to join us in promoting awareness of these new, high-value technical routes that have been designed in partnership with a wide range of engineering employers.

To ensure young people receive career advice related to engineering, the department works with the CEC to give them access to meaningful encounters with a range of employers and workplaces. The CEC and STEM Learning have launched a series of STEM toolkits to help Careers Leaders and teachers link careers to the STEM curriculum. The CEC are also working with Local Enterprise Partnerships to help Enterprise Coordinators in those areas with lowest uptake of STEM qualifications to make sure that STEM encounters are built into careers and enterprise plans.

In addition, the department is investing over £18.5 million to support the full rollout of Careers Hubs across England with several innovative, experimental projects focused on STEM subjects, designed by Careers Hubs.

We are setting up a new Future Skills Unit within the department to improve the quality and accessibility of data and intelligence on skills and jobs across government, individuals, employers, and beyond. The unit will help us to identify and understand the skills challenges facing the economy. It will work across government, including with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Office for National Statistics. It will also work externally with employers and local bodies to support stronger coordination and a common understanding of key issues.

In the devolution framework published in the Levelling Up White Paper, the department has committed to devolving adult education functions and the associated core Adult Education Budget to new areas as part of new devolution deals. This is as long as the authorities cover functional economic areas and have the required governance. We will respond to our funding and accountability consultation later this year, including more detail on our future vision for the skills system.