New legislation that paves the way for a body called Skills England by “transferring functions” from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has been announced in the King’s speech.
In his address for the first state opening of parliament under a Labour government in 15 years, the monarch also confirmed his ministers will “reform the apprenticeship levy”.
The speech sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the next year, which will include a Skills England bill.
Labour pledged to establish Skills England in the run up to the election. The aim of the body will be to “bring together businesses, providers, unions, mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) and national government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce that England needs”, a Number 10 press briefing document said.
There will be consequences for existing quango IfATE, which currently works with employers to develop, approve, review and revise apprenticeships and technical qualifications.
FE Week reported this month that IfATE had reduced its headcount by 30 staff, including second-in-command Rob Nitsch, after being ordered to find savings by the Department for Education.
It is not clear from today’s announcement exactly what parts of the institute will be transferred to Skills England. A timeline for launching the new body has not yet been released.
There is also no mention of Skills England’s responsibilities in areas of higher education, such as the incoming lifelong learning entitlement. Its relationship with HE regulator the Office for Students also gets no mention in today’s King’s speech documents.
Number 10 said: “The Bill will transfer functions from IfATE to Skills England, which will sit at the heart of a system that provides learners with the skills required to thrive in life, businesses with the trained workforce they need to succeed, and local areas with access to the right skills to spur economic growth.
“Skills England will support economic growth by greater coherence to the assessment of skills needs and training landscape; ensuring training programmes are well designed and delivered to meet these needs; and that regional and national skills systems are providing the skilled workforce needed to enable businesses to thrive and to contribute to the Industrial Strategy at the heart of our growth mission.”
Reformed apprenticeship levy role
One key task of Skills England will be to identify non-levy training eligible for funding under Labour’s proposed “growth and skills levy”, set to replace the apprenticeship levy.
Today’s announcement didn’t include any further details about how Labour’s new levy would operate, but the party previously said it plans to allow up to 50 per cent of employer payments to be spent on non-apprenticeship training.
Skills England will “consult on (and maintain a list of) levy-eligible training to ensure value for money, and that the mix of government-funded training available to learners and employers aligns with skills needs,” Number 10 said today.
The body will also be tasked with developing a “single picture of national and local skills needs”. This will involve Skills England working with industry, the Migration Advisory Committee, unions and the Industrial Strategy Council to “build and maintain a comprehensive assessment of current and future skills needs” to help inform the Department for Education’s policy priorities.
Number 10 said the volume of skills shortage vacancies in England more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, from 226,500 to 531,200. Skills England will “build the evidence base needed to address these gaps and will be responsible for sharing this insight with actors at a national and regional level, supporting the development of provision that addresses this need”.
Skills England will also “ensure that the national and regional skills systems are meeting skills needs and are aligned, including using local and regional vacancy data as part of a robust evidence base”. The body will “convene MCAs and other key stakeholders to identify system issues and provide advice to Government, leading to a more coherent system”.
IfATE and DfE have been approached for comment.
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