Lord Livermore (Lab)

I am grateful to my noble friend for that question and yes, I absolutely can give her that assurance. The Chancellor’s construction skills announcement yesterday—referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, in her opening comments –shows that, over this Parliament, the Government are funding a £625 million package to boost skills in the construction sector. This is expected to provide up to 60,000 more skilled construction workers to support the Government’s plans to deliver 1.5 million homes and progress vital infrastructure projects right across our country. My noble friend talks about the importance of regional growth in areas such as South Yorkshire. As she knows, growth is the central mission of this Government. Through the growth mission the Government are restoring stability, increasing investment and reforming the economy in order to drive up prosperity and living standards across every single region of the UK—in our cities, our towns and our communities. So far, we have done a considerable amount of work to increase growth and living standards throughout the country, but I am very aware there is a lot more to do.