The government has announced that it will pull together the skills landscape through the launch of Skills England.
As part of the government’s plans to ‘create a shared national ambition’ to boost skills, Skills England will bring central and local government together with business, training providers and unions to ensure that the skills requirements of the next ten years can be met in every region. The organisation will also offer strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system with this aligning to the government’s industrial strategy.
Leading Skills England will be Richard Pennycook CBE, as the former Co-operative Group Chief Executive and non-executive director at the Department for Education comes in as interim Chair – as confirmed by the Education Secretary.
The government sees skills as integral to economic growth, with a third of improvement in productivity coming as result of skills developments over the last 20 years. Despite this, skills shortages doubled to more than half a million between 2017 and 2022, with this now accounting for 36% of job vacancies.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
“Our skills system is a mess, which is why we are transforming our approach to meet skills needs over the coming decades.
“They will help 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 home-grown 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.”
The work to improve reliance on overseas workers will come as Skills England works alongside the Migration Advisory Committee.
The next steps in the process of establishing Skills England will involve:
- Setting up the organisation in shadow form within the Department for Education and beginning an assessment of future skills, whilst also appointing a permanent board, Chair and CEO
- Transferring function from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to Skills England, with them then offering the route for employers to shape skills training
- Skills England will then take responsibility for maintaining the list of levy-eligible training to ensure value for money
- The government will bring forward a strategy for post16 education, supporting a skilled workforce and driving economic growth.
Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, also commented:
“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.”
The process of establishing Skills England will take place over the course of the next 9-12 months.
Image credits: iStock
