To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to the Skills Bootcamp scheme, by (a) skill type and (b) region; and how many Skills Bootcamps are located in each region.
Answered on
8 November 2021
We have invested £43 million in the 2021-22 financial year to deliver Skills Bootcamps across the country, covering a wide range of digital, technical and green skills. And we are going further with the investment announced at the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 to significantly expand this exciting training programme.
Skills Bootcamps funding for this financial year has been allocated to providers across the country. This has included through a competitive procurement process, where the highest quality bids across all nine geographical regions in England were awarded contracts, selected according to demonstrated local skills needs.
More information about availability of specific Skills Bootcamps courses, including the recently announced Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving, is regularly updated on the Free Courses for Jobs website on GOV.UK.
For instance, Gateshead College has Skills Bootcamps in skill areas including cyber security, data engineering and digital marketing. We are pleased that initial findings indicate that this training has been well received and is already preparing adults to take on new, skilled jobs. Outcomes data from Wave 1 Skills Bootcamps, which will be published later this month, will give a full breakdown of the outcomes that our training has achieved to date.
We are confident that Skills Bootcamps have the potential to transform the adult skills landscape and are pleased that the positive outcome of the Spending Review means that we can go further with this training model, ensuring thousands of adults learn new skills and move into better jobs. The three-year settlement for this spending period should also give providers and employers greater confidence in delivering this style of training, allowing them to better plan new skills provision in their area.