Select committee: Transport Committee
Recommendation 5
5th Report - Engine for growth: securing skills for transport manufacturing
Published 28 Jan 2026
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Skills for transport manufacturing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government should: • extend the expiry window for unspent levy funding to three years; • consult on allowing levy funding to be used on capital expenditure to support the provision of training and skills development (so long as that is not to the detriment of passing down that levy funding for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chain); • set out options for mechanisms for larger companies to use or pass down levy funding for the benefit of the small and medium-sized enterprises in their supply chains; and • consult on permitting levy funding to be directly spent anywhere in the UK by manufacturers with operations in other UK nations as well as England. (Recommendation, Paragraph 35 )
From: Transport Committee, 5th Report - Engine for growth: securing skills for transport manufacturing (HC 1223), 28 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 5 May 2026 (deadline 28 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee on several aims, such as keeping occupational standards current and strengthening careers guidance, but does not accept key funding and reporting recommendations on the levy.
- On levy funding, the government says capital projects are ineligible for apprenticeship funding and "there are no current plans to change this". From August 2026 the expiry window for levy funds reduces from 24 months to 12 months.
- On level 7 apprenticeships, it "has no plans to re-introduce levy funding" in the Industrial Strategy sectors, citing a priority on young people.
- On modular or part-time training and diversity reporting, it agrees on the importance of opportunities for people with caring responsibilities but does "not consider that these specific recommendations are the right way" to achieve this. It has no plans to make levy funding contingent on diversity.
- It agrees it is essential for occupational standards to remain current, but prefers a targeted review model to revisions at fixed intervals. It says Skills England will update standards "as needed".