Written question asked by Lord Austin of Dudley (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 June 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 June 2010. It was answered by John Hayes (Conservative) on Wednesday, 16 June 2010 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Train to Gain Programme: West Midlands

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) employers and (b) employees received support under the Train to Gain programme in the West Midlands in 2009-10; and how many will receive such support in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12.

Answer: In England, between August 2008 and March 2009, 39,700 employers were engaged through the Train to Gain Skills Brokerage Service. This was replaced in April 2009 by the Business Link Integrated Brokerage Service, which recorded 16,100 employer engagements between April and July 2009.¹There were 106,600 Train to Gain starts in the west midlands Government office region in the 2008/09 academic year, the latest year for which full year data are available. Final full year Train to Gain data for 2009/10, released as part of a Statistical First Release, is normally expected to be available in December 2010.Investment in further education and skills for the financial year 2011-12 onwards will be subject to the spending review."¹ The number of employer engagements represents the number of employers who have engaged with the Brokerage Service. It does not represent the number of employers with employees learning on the Train to Gain programme."

Secondary information