Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press release entitled Government modernises exam records with new app, published on 8 January 2026, how the £30m savings figure was estimated; and what the average saving for a state secondary school is estimated to be.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The £30 million saving in the education sector is based on reducing administrative processes in further education and apprenticeships. Extensive user research with colleges identified activities that could be eliminated or streamlined, including photocopying documentation, manually matching emails with applications, and reducing data entry and correction through improved quality. Other efficiencies include removing support time for paperwork, eliminating manual searches for unique learner numbers and reducing checks on prior attainment to simplify enrolment for mathematics and English. These changes will also reduce delays caused by missing documentation and cut follow-up activities linked to incomplete records. Due to the nature of the calculation, the department has not estimated a saving per secondary school.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how their department can work with others across Government to ensure there are the right skills and workforce in place to support local authorities in developing careers in amenity horticulture and parks.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is working alongside sector-owning departments to ensure people have access to training to acquire the skills needed by employers, including Local Authorities.
Local agencies and local government are well placed to understand their local labour market, build connections with employers, and help knit together local services to address the barriers their citizens face to securing and succeeding in good work.
To achieve this, we are already delivering Local Get Britain Working plans in all areas of England. Led by local government and co-developed with local NHS, Jobcentre Plus and wider stakeholders, these plans will identify local labour market challenges/priorities and support the integration of locally-delivered services.
We know that a key part of unlocking local growth is ensuring that skills provision is matched to employer need at all skills levels. Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), overseen by Skills England, bring together employers, local leaders, colleges, universities and independent training providers to identify and address skills gaps from entry level to postgraduate qualifications. They are three-year Plans, with the second cycle now in development.
Your constituency is covered by the East Midlands LSIP. The designated Employer Representative Body is the Federation of Small Businesses, who are working closely with Skills England and the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA). This will ensure employer views continue to shape the LSIP whilst drawing on the deep local economic insight of EMCCA and its ability to influence and implement key interventions across priority local sectors.
Skills England have developed several occupational standards, apprenticeships and technical qualifications that support career development in horticulture, landscaping, parks management, and associated technical services. These span entry-level through to advanced management roles and include,
There are qualifications and Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQ) available that are developed and approved by Skills England based on the above occupational standards. These include the T Level in Agriculture, Land Management and Production, which has a specific occupational specialism in Ornamental and Environmental Horticulture and Landscaping, and a Higher Technical Qualification in Horticulture and Applied Science.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support increased participation in apprenticeships among young people in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer that will give greater flexibility to employers and support young people, including those in Surrey, at the beginning of their careers.
In August, we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. They are underpinned by additional funding for employers of up to £2,000 to contribute to the extra costs of supporting someone at the beginning of their career.
More recently, we have announced an ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships and backed this with an additional £725 million of investment. This will enable us to expand foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people. It also provides £140 million to pilot new approaches, with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to better connect young people aged 16–24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
In addition, from the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeships for non-levy paying employers (essentially small and medium sized enterprises) for all eligible people aged under 25. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.
Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25, when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including in Surrey, through nine regional networks which provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support SMEs in the West Midlands to access the Growth and Skills Levy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To support SMEs to access apprenticeships, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the next academic year. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships across the country, including in the West Midlands, by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers.
At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England, including the West Midlands, through nine regional networks. These networks provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Budget Statement on 26 November 2025, what estimate his Department has made of how many 16-24 year olds in Poole constituency will have access to the Youth Guarantee and the right to earn or learn.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government understands the negative effects of unemployment can be particularly pronounced for young people and can have longstanding implications on their future earnings potential and life chances whilst also recognising their needs will vary depending on where they live and their own individual circumstances.
In Poole, Jobcentre teams already work closely with the Local Authority, employers, local colleges and training providers to give opportunities for young people to learn and earn. To support this, the Jobcentre offers various a range of local provisions, including Sector Based Work Academy Programmes, Mentoring Circles and Group Information Sessions, covering CV writing, application completion and job search upskilling. These initiatives help young people develop skills they need to enter employment. Our Employment and Partnership Team also hosts and attends job fairs, runs job and apprenticeship matching sessions and engages directly with employers to bring vacancies closer to young people. In addition, we have dedicated Youth Employment Coaches who provide personalised, tailored support to the most vulnerable young people.
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships for young people, including a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. This investment will also fund an £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.
These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to promote heritage craft and stonemasonry apprenticeships as part of the wider skills and construction workforce strategy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Apprenticeships are a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
A range of apprenticeships, including the level 2 stonemason apprenticeship standard, are available to support employers and learners in the heritage sector to develop the skills they need.
To support more apprenticeship opportunities, from the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeships for non-levy paying employers for eligible people aged under 25. The department currently pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21 at non-levy paying employers and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.
Additionally, we pay £1,000 to employers of all sizes when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or aged 19 to 24 who are care leavers or have an education, health and care plan.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of young people not in (a) education, (b) employment or (c) training in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, including funding £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy to help support apprenticeships for young people.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support. Across Surrey, there are currently five Youth Hubs across Surrey based in Camberley, Weybridge, Staines, Mole Valley and Woking.
c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months in these six areas. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.
Growth and Skills Levy £725 million package of reforms includes fully funding SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
The information requested on trends in levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp and the guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp.
The estimated trends can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant county and Westminster constituency from the menu, and then, in the Variable menu, Category set to “Unemployment rate” from the drop-down list to access 16-24 year old unemployment, and the Category set to “Economically inactive by age” for the economically inactive aged 16-24.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of trends in levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, including funding £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy to help support apprenticeships for young people.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support. Across Surrey, there are currently five Youth Hubs across Surrey based in Camberley, Weybridge, Staines, Mole Valley and Woking.
c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months in these six areas. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.
Growth and Skills Levy £725 million package of reforms includes fully funding SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25, and £140 million pilot of new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.
The information requested on trends in levels of youth unemployment and economic inactivity is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp and the guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp.
The estimated trends can be found by selecting “Query data” on the NOMIS home page and selecting “Annual Population Survey/Labour Force Survey” and then “annual population survey (Dec 2004 to Jun 2025)” in the lists of data sources. The Geography will need to be set for the relevant county and Westminster constituency from the menu, and then, in the Variable menu, Category set to “Unemployment rate” from the drop-down list to access 16-24 year old unemployment, and the Category set to “Economically inactive by age” for the economically inactive aged 16-24.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to encourage more smaller businesses to take on apprentices.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Apprenticeships are a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
To encourage smaller businesses to take on apprentices, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers (essentially small and medium sized enterprises) for all eligible people aged under 25 from the next academic year. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16 to 21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care.
We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in care.
Additionally, the department engages with small employers regularly to promote apprenticeships. During National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a round table with small and medium employers and other key partners to better understand the challenges they are facing in recruiting apprentices. This insight allows us to better target engagement activities with small businesses.
The government also facilitates and funds the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (AAN) which comprises 2,500 employers and apprentices who volunteer to promote the benefits of apprenticeships. It operates across all parts of England through nine regional networks. These networks provide buddying and mentoring support to small businesses to help them recruit and retain apprentices.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to expand apprenticeship and training programmes for engineering roles supporting digital and energy infrastructure development.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, backed by £725 million of additional investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers and learners and support the industrial strategy.
In August 2025 we introduced new foundation apprenticeships to give young people a route into careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage while developing vital skills. The first foundation apprenticeships are focussed on industrial strategy and priority areas, they include engineering and manufacturing, software and data, and hardware, network and infrastructure.
Additionally, from April 2026, employers will also be able to access short, flexible training courses to help respond quickly to evolving skills needs. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units, and they will be available in critical skills areas such as engineering and digital.
Following commitments made in the Industrial Strategy, the Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper announced an £182 million engineering skills package, with the aim of helping to address the engineering skills needed in priority sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital and technology.