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Louise Thomas
Editor
Sir Keir Starmer will launch a new body on Monday to deal with Britain’s “fragmented and broken” skills training system.
In a bid to ensure training provision is aligned with the needs of the economy, the prime minister will unveil Skills England.
The body, which was included in Labour’s manifesto, will bring together central and local government, businesses, trade unions and training providers to better understand the nation’s “skills gap”.
Skills England will also work with the Migration Advisory Committee to reduce reliance on workers from overseas by addressing areas where home-grown skills can be improved.
Sir Keir said: “Our skills system is in a mess, which is why we are transforming our approach to meet skills needs over the coming decades.
“They will help to deliver our number one mission as a government, to kickstart economic growth, by opening up new opportunities for young people and enabling British businesses to recruit more homegrown talent.
“From construction to IT, healthcare to engineering, our success as a country depends on delivering highly skilled workforces for the long-term. Skills England will put in place the framework needed to achieve that goal while reducing our reliance on workers from overseas”.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has appointed former Co-Operative Group chief executive Richard Pennycook as interim chairman of Skills England, with the body expected to be established in phases over the next year.
Its first task will be an assessment of future skills needs, and it will later take on the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education once the Skills England Bill, announced in the King’s Speech, passes Parliament.
According to the Department for Education, skills shortages doubled between 2017 and 2022, and now account for 36 per cent of job vacancies.
The government also sees improved training as vital to its aim of growing the economy, arguing that a third of productivity growth over the last two decades has been due to better skills.
Ms Phillipson said: “Our first mission in government is to grow the economy, and for that we need to harness the talents of all our people to unlock growth and break down the barriers to opportunity.
“The skills system we inherited is fragmented and broken. Employers want to invest in their workers, but for too long have been held back from accessing the training they need.
“Skills England will jumpstart young people’s careers and galvanise local economies.
“It will bring businesses together with trade unions, mayors, universities, colleges and training providers to give us a complete picture of skills gaps nationwide, boost growth in all corners of the country and give people the opportunity to get on in life.”
Labour has also promised to reform the apprenticeship levy to “tackle the skills gap” and decrease migration.
During the election campaign, home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Net migration has trebled over the last five years under the Conservatives – that’s been particularly driven by the big increase in work migration and in work visas.
“Engineering apprenticeships have halved at the same time as visas have doubled. That shows you’ve got a system that’s broken.
“That’s why Labour’s setting out a practical plan to make sure that overseas recruitment is actually linked instead to the kind of training and the workforce plans that are needed; that will bring net migration down.”
