Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce the digital skills gap.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring access to digital skills for all. By 2024-25, we’re investing £3.8 billion in Digital Skills across England and have quadrupled the scale of Skills Bootcamps.
The Government provides free Essential Digital Skills Qualifications to address the diverse needs of adults with limited digital proficiency.
Additionally, the Digital Skills Council drives industry-led action. In February, DSIT partnered with the Council in delivering a communications campaign for Skills Bootcamps in high-demand digital fields. But plugging this gap also means getting the basics right – which is why this government has embarked on one of the largest infrastructure projects in modern times to connect millions of households to gigabit broadband – laying enough fibre optic cable to circle the Earth five times.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help encourage individuals out of work to undertake (a) digital and (b) IT qualifications.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches will engage with customers to better understand the steps needed to support their work search ambitions. Where digital skills are identified as a barrier to securing or progressing in employment, customers can be referred to available local provision. For customers in England, we have ongoing collaboration at a national and local level with the Department for Education who fund adult education provision via the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Learning providers, many of which are Further Education colleges, deliver training to address claimant skills needs in line with Labour Market demand. As skills is a devolved matter, similar discussions take place with key stakeholders in the Scottish and Welsh Governments to help ensure the employment and skills support offered to customers in the devolved nations is aligned.
In addition, Work Coaches in England can use the additional flexibility available through DWP Train and Progress to signpost claimants to the Department for Education’s Digital Skills Bootcamps, which can last up to 16 weeks.
For digitally excluded working age out-of-work and in-work Universal Credit customers, Work Coaches can also use the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) to procure devices, dongle, talk time, and 6 months superfast broadband in the home where the Work Coach believes this will support Labour Market progression. DWP has also ensured that all operational staff in Jobcentres, Universal Credit service centres, Pension Centres, and partnership managers who engage with customers and stakeholders are able to signpost to information promoting broadband social tariffs made accessible to claimants through DWP’s Application Programme Interface.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help individuals out of work improve their (a) numeracy and (b) literacy skills.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches engage with customers to better understand the steps needed to support their work search. Where essential skills needs are identified as a barrier to securing or progressing in employment, customers can be referred to available local provision which can include essential maths and numeracy training available through Multiply, English (literacy and English as a Second Language, ESOL) and digital skills, as well as other key vocational focussed opportunities.
Through DWP Train and Progress the length of time Universal Credit (UC) customers can undertake work-focused training has been extended. UC claimants are now able to attend full-time work-related training for up to 16 weeks.
For customers in England, we have ongoing collaboration at a national and local level with the Department for Education who fund adult education through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Learning providers, many of which are Further Education colleges, deliver training to address customer skills needs in line with labour market demand. As skills is a devolved matter, similar discussions take place with key stakeholders in the Scottish and Welsh Governments to help ensure the employment and skills support offered to claimants in the devolved nations is aligned.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15588 on Digital Technology: Disadvantaged, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of availability of free or low cost internet training for people aged 65 and over to tackle digital exclusion.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises that digital skills are important for adults of all ages, and we are committed to improving their level of digital skills to support active participation in society.
From August 2020, the department introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. The new entitlement mirrors the existing legal entitlements for English and maths, and puts essential digital skills on an equal footing in the adult education system, as a third basic skill. The department introduced new Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs) at entry level and level 1 from August 2020, funded under the digital entitlement. EDSQs are based on the new national standards for essential digital skills and are designed to meet the diverse needs of adults with no or low digital skills, reflecting different learning needs, motivations and starting points.
To further enhance the essential digital skills offer for adults, from August 2023 the department introduced new digital Functional Skills qualifications (FSQs), which have replaced FSQs in Information and Communication Technology. Digital FSQs have standardised content and assessment, providing a benchmark of digital skills for employers. The department published the final subject content for digital FSQs in October 2021.
The government recognises that formal qualifications are not appropriate for everyone. That is why the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the Adult Education Budget. Many local authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.
More information about essential digital skills and other government funded training opportunities can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding a digital roll out of evidence-based parenting programmes similar to the scheme announced by the Australian Federal Government in 2022.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.
The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.
The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.
The programme guide can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The published guidance is available at: https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool.
The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.
The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.
The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.
Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to tackle digital exclusion among older people in Wigan constituency.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is responsible for coordinating HMG digital inclusion policy as part of its commitment to ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age. Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting issue that spans social engagement, education, employment, access to services and many more elements of everyday life.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology leads on telecoms and digital infrastructure, including Project Gigabit, the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband to the hardest to reach parts of the UK. In the Wigan constituency, over 98% of premises can access a superfast connection (>=30Mbps), while 92% can access a gigabit-capable connection, up from 0.8% in December 2019. Both of these current figures are higher than the national averages of 97% and 81% for superfast and gigabit-capable coverage, respectively.
More broadly across Government, the Cabinet Office is working to remove barriers and ensure online services are as inclusive as possible by making public sector websites accessible to as many people as possible. The Cabinet Office leads on the Service Standard, a set of principles government service teams and departments must adhere to when creating and running new public services – such as the NHS – and some Local Authorities, including Greater Manchester Combined Authority, have committed to using these as well.
Training is available for elderly people wishing to acquire essential digital skills. Department for Education has introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. Essential Digital Skills Qualifications, introduced alongside the digital entitlement, are based on new national standards which set out the digital skills people need to get on in life and work.
We also recognise that ongoing support is essential to overcome barriers of access. Our network of 2,900 public libraries across England provide a trusted network of accessible locations with staff, volunteers, free Wi-Fi, public PCs, and assisted digital access to a wide range of digital services.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) young people and (b) adults have access to a range of high quality training pathways.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government is committed to creating a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality and fit for the future. The department’s reforms are strengthening higher and further education to help more people get good jobs and upskill and retrain throughout their lives. The department’s reforms are backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen higher and further education. These reforms will help equip people with the education, training and skills that employers demand both in the public and private sector.
Apprenticeships are for people of any age and are crucial in driving growth and social mobility. To support growth, the department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, encouraging more employers across the country to recruit new apprentices.
The department has introduced employer-designed T Levels which are equipping thousands of young people with the skills, knowledge, and experience to access employment or further study in some of the most in-demand skills areas. 18 T Levels are now available, which are being delivered through over 250 providers across all regions of the country.
The department has invested £300 million to establish 21 Institutes of Technology across England to significantly increase the number of learners with higher level technical skills, offering an alternative route to high paid jobs. They bring education and industry together to deliver world class technical education and training in key STEM subjects aligned to the skills needs of the local economy they serve.
The department is delivering reforms to increase the profile, prestige, and uptake of higher technical education. Central to these reforms is the introduction of Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs), which are Level 4/5 qualifications approved against employer-developed standard and quality marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. This means students and employers can have the confidence that HTQs provide skills employers need. To date, 172 qualifications have been approved as HTQs across seven occupational routes and over 140 providers are approved to deliver HTQs.
The Adult Education Budget (AEB) of £1.34 billion this year funds skills provision for adults to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. This includes entitlements to free first qualifications at Level 2 and 3 and English, mathematics and digital qualifications for those adults who do not have them. Community Learning plays a vital role within AEB provision by supporting those furthest from the workplace. It is an important stepping stone for learners who are not ready for formal accredited learning, or who would benefit from learning in a more informal way.
In addition, the department has introduced the Free Courses for Jobs scheme, which enables eligible adults to gain a high value qualification for free and Skills Bootcamps. These Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with an employer.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with career advice services to help ensure that young people leaving school can move into a (a) job and (b) apprenticeship.
Answered by Robert Halfon
In October 2023, the department launched a new website called Skills for Careers that provides a single digital front door to information about skills training options and careers. From Skills for Careers, users are guided through government’s skills offer from apprenticeships to Skills Bootcamps, A levels to Multiply. The website provides an overview of each option, along with information about writing job applications and CVs. The Skill for Life website can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life.
The government has strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have access to independent and impartial careers guidance, and pupils in years 8-13 have at least six opportunities to hear directly from providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
Since September 2012, schools have had a statutory duty to secure independent careers guidance. For pupils of compulsory school age, this must include information on the full range of 16-18 education and training options, including apprenticeships.
The Careers and Enterprise Company will ensure that Careers Hubs increase young peoples’ exposure to employers and more in-depth workplace experiences. These experiences give young people a real feel for work and the skills they need to succeed.
The National Careers Service provides free, impartial high-quality careers information, advice and guidance. Young people aged 13-18 can access information and advice through the service website and local community-based careers advisers via a web chat service and a telephone helpline.
The Careers Pathway Dashboard allows users to see which are the most popular and best qualifications needed to gain successful employment in a specific sector within a local area. This is a first attempt to create information to support careers advice for young people exploring their career options or starting their career. The Careers Pathway Dashboard can be found here: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/education-to-employment-dashboard/.
Careers Leaders work to develop careers programmes that will improve the quality of careers advice in schools and give more aspirational careers advice for children and young people.
The department actively promotes apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme. During the 2022/23 academic year, ASK engaged over 2,400 schools and colleges, with over 625,000 student engagements and more than 45,000 parent/carer engagements.
Jobcentre Plus school advisers work closely with schools and colleges to support their statutory duty to deliver careers education and guidance, assisting young people to make informed choices about which path they can follow when they leave secondary school or reach 18.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 people who are on Universal Credit to access free adult education.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit (UC) claimants are required to undertake activity to address skills needs if this will help them enter and retain employment or find better paid work. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches engage with claimants to identify and address these needs through options ranging from the Department for Education’s Skills Bootcamps; careers advice from National Careers Service advisors, many of whom are co-located in Jobcentre offices or DWP’s successful (Sector Based Work Academy Programmes).
DWP’s Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) help employers who have immediate and future employment needs by providing short work focussed opportunities to fill local job vacancies. Through the adult education budget, Government funds the skills training that employers require and in return employers agree to offer work experience placements and a guaranteed offer of an interview for a live vacancy. Data for the financial years 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 to date shows that, as of 28 January 2024, there were a total of 266,330 starts to a Sector-based Work Academy Programme. Final start figures for 2023/24 will be available early next financial year.
For claimants who need vocational and essential skills training (English/maths/digital), to support their work search goals, it was announced at Spring budget 2023 that the length of time UC claimants can undertake full time work-related training has been extended to up to 16 weeks. This means eligible claimants are able to access a wider range of courses, including those made available through the DfE Free Courses for Jobs initiative.
Additionally, local Jobcentre Plus partnership teams work directly with colleges and training providers in their area to ensure claimants have access to the right skills support. Jobcentre Plus partnership leads also participate in DfE’s employer representative body led Local Skills improvement Partnerships across England, which are articulating local employer skills needs for consideration by colleges and local training providers.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help businesses provide advanced cyber skills training to staff.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Cyber Strategy sets out the importance of reducing cyber risks to businesses. To do this, the Government is supporting the UK Cyber Security Council to define the skills and knowledge needed for cyber roles. The Government is also funding numerous targeted training initiatives such as Cyber Ready and Upskill in Cyber to upskill and retrain those in the workforce, as well as the government-funded Skills Bootcamp opportunities highlighted through our recent Advanced Digital Skills campaign. This is alongside our Cyber Essentials scheme which supports businesses to implement essential technical controls on cyber security.