The government’s levelling-up proposals for the ‘forgotten’ regions of the UK have attracted strong criticism from two leading skills bodies.
City & Guilds claimed some sectors were on the edge of collapse for lack of skills, while the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said the policies aimed at young people were “tinkering at the edges” because they did not address problems associated with the apprenticeship levy.
The levelling up white paper containing the proposals identified 55 “cold spots” of the country where school outcomes are the weakest. It promises to target investment, support and action that help children from all backgrounds and areas to succeed at the very highest levels. These include Rochdale, the Isle of Wight, Walsall, parts of Yorkshire and Sunderland.
It stated: “As 95% of these areas are outside London and the South East, it is the struggling schools of the North, Midlands, East of England and South West that will be receiving much more support over the next decade.”
A Future Skills Unit will be set up, according to the proposals, to examine where skills gaps exist and in what industries. The capacity of the Supported Internship programme will be doubled to provide thousands more young people who have additional needs with the skills to secure and sustain paid employment.
People are put off entering into these vital jobs due to a lack of skills and training, alongside low wages and inflexible working conditions” –Kirstie Donnelly, City & Guilds
Under the plan thousands more adults may be able to access free, flexible training and get the skills required to progress in careers in sectors including green, digital and construction. This would be part of an additional £550m boost to expand the skills bootcamps across the country. Prisoners can also now take advantage of skills bootcamps as part of a new trial to support them to find work on their release, levelling up opportunities for more people.
For Kirstie Donnelly, CEO of City & Guilds, the approach needed to be more about skills than jobs. She said: “If the government truly wants to invest in and drive forward a levelling up agenda, they need to not just create job opportunities, but ensure that people have the right skills to do them.”
She cited City & Guilds’ Great Jobs research, which found that industries “that keep our country running” were already at risk of collapse, severely damaged by labour and skills gaps – from construction and food production to health and social care. She said: “From speaking directly to the UK workforce, we know that people are put off entering into these jobs due to a lack of the necessary skills and training, alongside low wages and inflexible working conditions.”
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She acknowledged that education was a key pillar of the white paper, but focusing on schools and specialist sixth forms was not enough. “People entering the workforce today will most likely be working fifty years,” she said, “and the skills they have at 18 or 21 will most likely need a significant update throughout their careers. Access to high quality adult education and skills development is imperative to creating the skilled people needed to do the jobs available – both now and in the future.”
Donnelly added that to support its levelling up “rhetoric”, the government needed to provide additional funding to level up access to all ages education and “promote the value of the jobs the pandemic proved were essential to the running of our society”.
She said: “The bottom line is that only when the government puts adequate investment into flexible lifelong training opportunities, making jobs more attractive and tackling the mismatch between supply and demand, will the country be able to get back on an even keel.”
Kate Shoesmith, deputy CEO of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, said the Future Skills Unit had the “potential to play a vital role in ensuring that the UK is training people to fill the needs of our labour market”. But for this to work, it needed input from business and multiple government departments. This would ensure that funds were targeted at the sectors and skills that needed them most.
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Shoesmith said that extra investment in entry-level skills training was crucial so it was good to see skills bootcamps being expanded. “However, all of this will still be tinkering at the edges until the government reforms the apprenticeship levy and allows millions more people to access flexible training. In the employment industry, we want to work with government to ensure these interventions can have the impact intended.”
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