The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, have announced the launch of Skills England, which will be tasked with identifying current and future skills gaps and driving forward plans to enable young people and adults to develop the skills they need.
This week, responsibility for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (ifATE) will transfer to Skills England, under the Skills England Bill, included within the King’s Speech for the State Opening of Parliament.
The body will be established in phases over the next 9-12 months.
Skills England will bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions, with the aim of meeting the ‘skills needs of the next decade’ and provide ‘strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system, as per the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
It will also support local areas to develop the skilled workforces they need.
The body will identify the training for which the Growth and Skills Levy will be accessible, - a reform which will give businesses more flexibility to spend levy funds on training for the skills they need.
Working with the Migration Advisory Committee, Skills England will also help reduce reliance on overseas workers.
The former chief executive of the Co-operative Group and lead non-executive director at the Department for Education, Richard Pennycook, has been appointed as the interim chair.
'Our success as a country depends on delivering highly skilled workforces for the long-term.'
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said, ‘Our skills system is in a mess, which is why we are transforming our approach to meet skills needs over the coming decades.
‘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 added, ‘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.’
Dr Joe Marshall, chief executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), commented, ‘It’s no secret that the UK is facing a severe and acute skills crisis. Between 2017 and 2022 skills shortages in the nation doubled to more than half a million, and now account for 36 per cent of job vacancies.
'What’s more worrying still is that businesses face barriers to upskilling their staff and accessing new talent. The new Government has wasted no time in taking action. We warmly welcome that Skills England, which will bring together business and training providers, is being launched today.’
