Mayors’ powers are key to unlocking skills for growth

Five months ago, the people of the region elected me the Mayor of the West Midlands. It’s a role with significant powers and influence, and I’m committed to using it to create lasting change. Education and skills are at the heart of my plans to do that.

I’ve now set out a plan for the West Midlands to be the best place to live, learn, work and do business. This means bringing together key players across the region to focus on four priorities: jobs, housing, growth and transport.

To make this happen, I’m establishing a ‘council of experts’: four taskforces with proven expertise to drive progress in each of these critical areas.

Our region, with its large youth population, faces a significant challenge: youth unemployment here is double the national average. Around 25,000 of our 18-24-year-olds are out of work and relying on unemployment-related benefits. That’s simply not good enough.

Our vision is for the West Midlands to be a place where every young person has the support and opportunities they need to start their careers with confidence. In July, I launched my Youth Plan with a clear priority: reducing youth unemployment. But we can’t wait until young people are 19. That’s often too late.

Many young people feel they lack the skills, qualifications and networks to step into good jobs. They aren’t sure the opportunities are there for them, and they doubt that employers are willing to give them a chance.

This was reinforced by the recent GCSE results, where our region was the worst-performing in the country. Only 53 per cent of our students achieved a grade 4+ in maths, and 56.7 per cent in English.

Too many young people are leaving school without the qualifications they need to move forward, whether that’s into further education, a good job or an apprenticeship.

We know that meaningful work experience plays a huge role in employability. A report by Youth Future Foundations recently confirmed that lack of training, skills or work experience is one of the biggest barriers young people face when trying to find work.

We need a stronger link between post-16 and the local job market

That’s why I’ve been meeting with senior representatives from some of the region’s largest employers – including Severn Trent Water, Rigby Group, HSBC UK, AtkinsRéalis, the NHS and more – to create 20,000 work experience and training opportunities.

They’re on board with the plan, and we’ve agreed to work together to make sure these placements equip young people with the skills for industries like engineering, green skills and digital technology.

I’ve also been visiting local skills providers and speaking directly to young people. I want to understand what’s working and how we can do better. Every young person, no matter their background, should have access to the right opportunities.

Take Josh Davis, a young man I recently met. His story is nothing short of inspirational. Despite facing challenges and living with autism, Josh accessed the support he needed to secure his dream job. Through a supported internship with GMI Construction Group, he’s developed communication skills in a real work environment and is now working towards his Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship.

Josh’s journey is a powerful example of what can be achieved when we give young people the right support. I’m determined that every young person in the West Midlands gets the same chance to reach their full potential.

We already offer high-quality work experience through our careers programme, but if we’re serious about making this the best region for young people to start their careers, we need to intervene earlier.

That’s why I’m asking the government for a strategic role in shaping the technical education offer for 16-19-year-olds, particularly at level 2. We need a stronger link between post-16 education and the local job market.

And as part of this, we want to work with the government on piloting new approaches to improving English and maths attainment after the age of 16.

I’m optimistic that by working together – as a region and with government – we can make the West Midlands a place where young people thrive, and where businesses and communities grow together.

How Manchester is making a beeline for vocational parity

What did you want to be when you were 14? I quite fancied being a translator, though I wasn’t sure how to get there. How much harder it is for today’s young people. As technology transforms the world of work, their perfect job might be one they’ve never heard of. Here in Greater Manchester, we’ve found a creative solution to that challenge.

Last week, we launched a new online tool – the Beeline – to give our young people a clear line of sight to high-quality jobs in our city region’s growing economy.

Named after the worker bee that symbolises Manchester’s spirit, the Beeline is part of our mission to raise the status and profile of technical education through the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate, or MBacc.

As regular readers know, this is an important year for the MBacc, our pioneering alternative to the university route. In July, 200 business and education leaders came together to help us develop our plans for the MBacc and in the coming academic year, schools and colleges will work with us to shape it further.

Unlike other education routes, the MBacc uses local labour market data to guide learners towards the subjects most valued by employers. It does this through seven gateways linked to sectors that are growing in the Greater Manchester economy – from financial and professional to construction and the green economy.

At the end of each gateway are jobs. Some, like corporate solicitor or rail engineer, may be familiar. Others, like retrofit co-ordinator or wind turbine technician, are less so. Talking to young people as we developed the MBacc, we realised that they needed help to visualise potential jobs and plan for their future.

It’s all very well showing them the steps to take to become a data analyst, broadcast technician or software developer. But what do those jobs involve day to day? How common are they in their city region? And crucially, what do they earn?

This is where the Beeline comes in. It’s the first tool of its kind to give young people real-time information about the jobs available in their region right now – including how in-demand those roles are.

 It may sound simple – but it’s clear this is a gamechanger

We launched Beeline last week at Rayner Stephens High School in Dukinfield. A room of excited Year 10 and 11 students tested it out via out our careers website, GMACS.

By clicking on an MBacc gateway, they were shown the relevant courses and qualifications on offer at 14, 16 and 18 in Greater Manchester. They then zoned in on individual jobs in that sector and clicked through to real job adverts on the Adzuna jobs website, including (in most cases) salary details.

It may sound simple, but listening to the reactions in that classroom, it’s clear Beeline is a gamechanger. Every student I spoke to said the tool had opened their eyes to jobs and career routes they had not considered.

One hadn’t realised he could earn a good wage at 18 or work in engineering without a degree. Another, who’d been worried about the cost of university, was excited by the idea of a degree apprenticeship in finance management.

I’ve always said that, for the MBacc to succeed, it must be an equally prestigious alternative to the university route. Beeline proves you don’t have to go to university to get a well-paid job. And by proving the earning power of a technical education, it also helps make the economic case for why it shouldn’t be treated as second-class when it comes to education budgets.  

I know there’s a lot of uncertainty and anxiety right now as the government conducts its one-year pause and review of level 3 defunding. Here in Greater Manchester, we also worried that thousands of young people don’t know what their post-16 options will be next September.

Despite these challenges, I’m optimistic about the future of technical education. With the right signposting, teaching and funding, I believe it can broaden horizons and transform life chances every bit as much as university

And by unleashing young people’s full potential, it can also help our new government in its mission to grow the economy.

To try the Beeline tool, visit: https://gmacs.co.uk/beeline/

Starmer has fired the starting gun on a skills revolution

Sir Keir Starmer’s speech to Labour party conference was a repudiation of two Tory-era skills policies.

The prime minister signalled the undoing of controversial reforms that saw vocational subjects score ‘no value’ in the 14-19 curriculum. Starmer also called time on the failed apprenticeship changes of 2017 which caused the number of young people getting on the careers ladder to plummet by one-third.

The curriculum review, led by professor Becky Francis, should recommend new ways of breathing life into our rigid Edwardian-style syllabus. For too long, young people have missed out on music, dance, drama and vocational courses, mainly because of outdated dogma like the Wolf Review.

The last Tory government enforced unwanted segregation in upper secondary education with the roll-out of T levels. Labour is remaining tight-lipped about the precise future of these qualifications.

No amount of money or political manipulation, however, should get in the way of a quality comprehensive education for every student up until they reach nineteen.

Government telling parents of teenagers that they must study either A levels or T levels, is rooted in a discredited notion that people are innately endowed with two types of brain — academic or technical. This kind of social class engineering was defeated by the great socialist education secretary, Anthony Crosland in the 1960s, when he got rid of the 11-plus.

Bridget Philipson, if she remains true to Labour’s once proud traditions, should have nothing to do with such a blatant form of educational apartheid. If T levels are to have any future, they must be reduced to the equivalent of one A level or a single Applied General Qualification (AGQ).

This way, 14-19 year olds will be able to ‘mix and match’ academic and vocational subjects via an integrated and comprehensive education offer. For work-based options, the policy focus should shift towards paid foundation apprenticeships for 16–19-year-olds, reversing a staggering 70-per-cent decline in young apprentices since 2015/16.

The money saved on slimmed downed T levels, perhaps without the need for expensive 45-day industry placements, can be directed towards state-of-the-art apprentice training instead.

FE has been reduced to a local delivery arm of the state

In the 1960s and 70s, FE colleges delivered day release and evening courses to more than a million younger workers. Technical colleges were invented to meet the needs of local industries. It’s bizarre that FE has been reduced to a local delivery arm of the state. No wonder staff morale and pay is so far behind more autonomous universities.

With the inaugural report of Skills England, the starting gun has gone off on repairing the country’s broken skills and labour market. For too long, policy makers have shrugged their shoulders or idly stood by as the apprenticeship levy was abused by corporate bosses.

Instead of providing apprentice opportunities to 900,000 under-24-year-olds that were NEET, senior managers helped themselves to MBAs, all fully funded by the taxpayer.

To add to the problem, many employers have failed to invest adequately in the workforce. Training volumes have slumped by half since 1997. Multinationals relied on importing cheap labour instead of investing in domestic skills and paying a proper living wage.

The biggest headache for Labour now is avoiding the trap of ‘Whitehall knows best’. Policy documents being drafted by officials haven’t changed for forty years. They all promise more of the same: bureaucratic market centralisation.

Labour say they want to see a decade of national renewal. Skills England will be easily replaced by the next government unless ministers seriously engage in skills reforms that become irreversible.

The way to achieve this is through what I call triple decentralisation.

First, by devolving all education programme spending to post-18-year-olds, including HE funding, via individual learning accounts.

Second, by devolving all capital funding (on a needs formula basis), including decisions about the (re)organisation of 16-19 and adult provision, to locally elected mayors.

And third, by bringing all employers within scope of a national workforce investment fund. Every firm should be obligated to pay something into the levy pot.

For too long the skills bureaucracy has been content to muddle through. And many employers have got away without paying for training. It’s time for real change.

More data needed to tackle apprenticeship dropout rates

High apprenticeship dropout rates would be easier to address if the Department for Education published more detailed data showing exactly when non-completing apprentices leave, an education charity has argued.

In a report called Apprenticeship Completion, EPA and the Role of Employers, the education consultancy Think looked at reasons why “barely half” of all apprentices complete their programme.

Some standards have high withdrawal rates shortly before completion because mandatory qualifications are viewed as “more valuable” and potentially duplicated with end-point assessments (EPAs), the report found.

However, the “single biggest barrier” reported by employers was functional skills, with many “perfectly capable” employees dropping out before completion or declining to start apprenticeships.

In some cases, employers used apprenticeships for “career development and skills add-ons” rather than initial training or a route to promotion, meaning the learner had “little to lose” by dropping out.

‘Insufficient data’

Think, which carried out the research on behalf of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, analysed apprenticeship data from 2021/22, a freedom of information request to the DfE and interviews with 50 providers and 71 employers. 

Researchers concluded that “insufficient data” is published on the number of apprentices who leave after completing most of their training or their mandatory qualifications, and which standard they are studying.

Doing so “would help” to improve apprenticeship achievement rates, which the government hopes to increase from 54 per cent to 67 per cent by 2024/25.

Researchers found that 89 per cent of non-completing nursing associates dropped out in the three months before or after their planned end date.

Non-completing public service delivery officers also dropped out in high numbers shortly after their planned end date, with 58 per cent of 599 apprentices leaving.

The legal financial and accounting and business route had the highest number of standards – 17 of 26 that had available data – with more than 30 per cent of non-completing apprentices dropping out close to their planned end date.

In contrast, the engineering and manufacturing route had only five out of 40 standards with more than 30 per cent of non-completing apprentices leaving in the three months before or after their planned end date.

‘You can’t see why’

The report noted that, while recent Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IfATE) policy is likely to help deal with dropouts after mandatory qualifications are achieved, there is a need for a “more continuous” picture of which standards are problematic.

Richard Guy, one of the report’s authors, told FE Week: “Everyone would know which standards are the core of the problem for low achievement rates.

“At the moment, you can see achievements are low, but you can’t see why.

“Also, if you publish mandatory qualification achievements and how many apprentices are getting through EPA and gateway, you could tell where mandatory qualifications are being treated as more important than the EPA.”

‘Weak’ EPA interest

Despite the number of dropouts, the report found that independent EPAs are “always supported and valued by employers and apprentices” except when there are mandatory qualifications.

Mandatory qualifications “clearly” take precedence over EPAs and often cause “weak” employer and learner interest, it said.

To address this, assessments should be decided “nationally” rather than by trailblazer groups and EPAs should be integrated into the qualification to avoid duplication.

English and maths requirements should also be linked to the apprenticeship standard, the report concludes.

Other reasons for dropping out

The DfE announced it was launching a new exit feedback tool for surveying apprentices in 2022, but it does not routinely publish its results.

However, in response to a freedom of information request, the DfE told FE Week that, of the 13,450 apprentices surveyed up to March 2024, “I didn’t enjoy the apprenticeship” was the top response, scoring 35 per cent.

Other reasons given in the multiple-choice survey included that the employer was “not supportive enough”, training was of “poor quality” and “other issues with my training provider”.

Only 2 per cent, a total of 70 learners, said “problems with the end point assessment” were a reason for leaving.

The survey appears not to have included any questions about mandatory qualifications.

A DfE spokesperson did not respond to the report’s recommendations.

However, they said: “We welcome this report, and are pleased that apprenticeship assessment is well supported by employers and apprentices.

“We are committed to ensuring apprentices complete their apprenticeship having gained all the skills they need for their career.

“With the launch of Skills England, we will bring together businesses with trade unions, mayors and training providers to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver national, regional and local skills needs.”

Simon Ashworth, deputy CEO of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “AELP welcomes Gatsby’s new report which shows apprentices withdrawing at gateway due to English and maths requirements.

“This highlights the need for a change on functional skills policy which – along with changes to end point assessment currently being piloted – would make a huge difference.

“The report also shows the need for more data to be made available – this would give us more insight into when apprentices drop out as well as why.

“At the moment, it is too easy to blame the provider when we know that many non-completions are as a result of issues outside of their control.”

IfATE declined to comment.

Labour conference: The same old promises can’t buy me love

I have just got back from the Labour Party conference. I attended the City & Guilds drinks event at the Beatles museum after 14 hours of events and 13,000 steps in torrential rain (and I don’t drink!).

As I quietly slipped out, I ended up chatting to the museum staff. I had one question: The Beatles’ music is amazing, but doesn’t it drive you crazy after a few months?

That opened the floodgates: the playlist is on a loop, they know every note and every word of every song and the order they’ll play in, back to front. After a while they learn to tune out. It just becomes a slightly irritating white noise.  

And so back to conference. Over three days, I heard how important skills were, how FE is a priority, Skills England, growth and skills levy, curriculum review…

Do you want to know a secret? This political playlist has been on a loop for as long as I’ve been involved in FE. After 30 years, I must be on skills revolution 9 – and it has become white noise.

I accept the sector needs to show a degree of patience, even if it is wearing thin. It’s okay to appeal for prudence and ask us to wait until after the budget for any financial announcements. It’s equally reasonable to say it will take time to reverse the trends, after many years of neglect.

But it’s time to do more than shuffle the playlist. We need to leave the museum.

Value for money (That’s what I want)

For a start, there is no justification for the sector not being given the same 5.5-per-cent pay increase as schools.

Equally there is also no good rationale for colleges in the public sector not to be able to reclaim VAT from the taxman. To be honest, the same is true for ITPs offering the same public service.

Here’s a neat compromise: change the VAT status to fund the pay.

Here, there and everywhere

Skills England has become a handy bucket for all our issues. “Skills England will tackle this.”

However, if government make it part of the DfE structure rather than an arm’s length body that can challenge and work freely across all departments, then it won’t even have baby teeth, let alone adult teeth.

Happy ever after in the marketplace

The prime minister’s announcements were a good start for the growth and skills levy. Degree apprenticeships are an excellent development, but they are an HE offer and should be funded from the HE budget, not from the FE funding pot.

The same goes for 16-18 apprenticeships: these should come from the DfE young person’s budget.

Meanwhile, removing some level 7 apprenticeships from the scope of levy funding is a step, but only a step. Employers won’t like it, but the truth is that it was never their money to spend.

Employers in the UK spend one the lowest proportions of income on training. If that isn’t going to change, then the levy needs to increase to correct the market failure and meet the government’s ambition.

Get back

Foundation apprenticeships sound like a step in the right direction, but the loss of incentive payments with the introduction of the levy caused the main damage. This needs to be reversed.

A hard day’s night

There is so much demand for the adult skills fund, adult and community learning and bootcamps. What’s more, they fully align with the government’s ambitions.

But funding has been eroded or frozen. So at least some of the new levy flexibility should be used to bolster them. This could be done overnight while Skills England get up to speed and determine the new playlist for FE delivery.

Matchbox

Finally, I am amazed that the students of FE are not out on the streets. The sector serves the most disadvantaged students who are woefully underfunded compared to school and university students (who want even more money!). If Labour aren’t going to right this wrong, who is?

Repairing the neglect of decades is obviously going to be a long and winding road. But the sector needs to see things getting better. These early steps would offer hope that, finally, we can work it out.

Sandwell College and NHS Trust launch £18 million Learning Campus, creating hundreds of jobs and training opportunities in the West Midlands

The significant agreement centres around the creation of a new £18 million Learning Campus in Smethwick, which is part of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital site set to open in 2025.

The Learning Campus is the first of its kind in the West Midlands, bringing together the college, NHS, and university partners in one purpose-built environment. The initiative, supported by Sandwell Council, the West Midlands Combined Authority, and the Government’s Town Fund, is vital to meeting the growing demand for new and upskilled staff in the NHS.

Sandwell College students will benefit from exclusive access to learning opportunities within the hospital, with the first cohort of school leavers and adult learners already enrolled this year for specialist healthcare courses giving them essential hands-on experience.

When completed in 2026, the Learning Campus will support more than 1,000 learners each year, offering over 100 apprenticeships, 250 work experience placements, and new opportunities for young people with learning difficulties.

Graham Pennington, Principal and Chief Executive of Sandwell College, commented: “This partnership between Sandwell College and the NHS is a remarkable opportunity for our students to gain real-life work experience, master classes, and career advice from healthcare professionals. The new Learning Campus goes beyond bricks and mortar — it’s about collaboration between key stakeholders in the region, as well as preparing the next generation of health and care professionals.”

As the largest provider of 16-19 study programmes in the West Midlands with 7,400 young people this year, the Sandwell Family of Colleges, including Sandwell College, Central Saint Michael’s Sixth Form, and Cadbury Sixth Form, continues to lead in educational innovation, with the new Learning Campus being just one of many projects in this year alone.

Decade of Success for Graham Pennington

Graham Pennington, who is stepping down after delivering a decade of success and over £33 million investment into the region, reflects: “Our mission has always been to deliver high-quality education that enhances the life chances and economic prospects of our learners, communities, and businesses. We’ve created an environment where every student can excel, from A Levels to T Levels and vocational courses, meeting the varied needs of all our learners.

“When I was appointed to this role, I had a vision to take Sandwell College to the highest level – driving investment in first-class facilities for learners, as well as forming partnerships that would provide the foundations for long-term success.

“I’m incredibly proud of the strong position in which I’m leaving The Sandwell Family of Colleges in. We’ve experienced year-on-year growth in student numbers, achieved our best-ever Ofsted inspection outcome, and reached our highest-ever enrolment, making us the most popular college destination for people in the West Midlands.”

Curriculum review call for evidence: what FE needs to know

The government has this morning published a call for evidence for its wide-ranging curriculum and assessment review.

We already have an explainer of how the review will work (you can read that here), so the below is more specific to the call for evidence.

It’s an 8-week consultation

The call for evidence opens today and runs until November 22. That’s eight weeks to have your say. You can fill in the consultation here.

The review has “deliberately kept questions as open as possible, and welcome responses from all those interested: young people and their parents, teachers, lecturers, education leaders, subject experts, researchers, employers and others”.

Reports next year, but changes could take longer

An interim report is expected in “early 2025”, setting out key findings and areas for further work, with a final report and recommendations due in Autumn 2025.

Review chair Becky Francis suggested it could be a mixed bag. Some more straight forward changes, for instance, could be put forward in the first report, and brought in the following year. Government has committed to give schools a year notice for any major curriculum and assessment reforms.

However, she did say any bigger and more complicated reforms could require further reviews or consultations, and may not even happen in this parliament, which ends in 2029.

Focus on improving curriculum… and workload

The review’s call for evidence is broken down into nine sections, with each framed around the strengths of the current system and “the areas that most need change”

Key for teachers and college leaders struggling with retention is a secondary aim of ensuring the curriculum is deliverable “with manageable and sustainable workloads for education staff”.

Sections relevant to the FE sector include social justice, maths and English foundations, technical awards alongside GCSEs, assessment and accountability, and 16 to 19 qualification pathways.

What the review is not

The review is not connected to the short, focused review into level 3 reforms which involves defunding BTECs and other applied general qualifications.

However, it will “work closely with the internal review” ahead of its outcomes being published by the end of 2024.

In a statement in July, Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the curriculum and assessment review will “reflect” the level 3 review’s decisions, as well as recommending changes to 16 to 19 education “where necessary”.

Other issues outside of its scope are apprenticeships and associated functional skills requirements, traineeships and adult skills.

Looking hard at post-16

Francis’ review will consider young people’s education experiences up to the age of 19 and will be “vigorously evidence and data informed”.

The panel asks whether the range of programmes up to level 3 meets the “needs and aspirations of learners” and whether changes could be made to A-levels, T Levels or other applied or vocational qualifications.

She told FE Week: “We are definitely wanting to look hard at post-16 and particularly within that, vocational qualifications, where we know that there have been long standing debates, issues and problems.”

English and maths resits

The panel is “keen to understand” what changes would improve English and maths performance, noting that less than 30 per cent of those you do not achieve level 2 at key stage 4 go on to reach grade 4 them by 19 years old.

FE Week understands that the forced GCSE resits policy is in the remit of the review.

Social justice

The panel’s call for evidence has a focus on how the education system can “improve outcomes” for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

While Francis is positive about the English education system’s “commitment to excellence” over recent decades, she hopes to help the country “confront the divides that perpetuate the class ceiling”.

She said: “The reality is that we continue to fail the third of our young people who do not achieve five GCSEs at grade 4 or above age 16, a disproportionate number of whom are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Economically disadvantaged young people are 24 per cent less likely to achieve a level 2 in both English and maths by 19, the report finds.

In addition, just under one in five young education leavers in England do not enter sustained education, apprenticeship or employment within a year of their 16 to 19 studies.

“Every pupil, across all key stages, should have an experience of education that is both stimulating and enjoyable and that provides them with the foundation and motivation to pursue lifelong learning,” the review states.

Skills England publishes first report

The government’s new skills quango has published its first report that outlines the “long list of challenges” to fix and the “fragmented and confusing” skills system.

Skills England’s inaugural report, which interim chair Richard Pennycook said, “does nothing more than set the scene”, assured that the new body will “bring HE and FE systems closer together” and join up decision making across the department.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Skills England will “shape” the government’s response to skills needs and provide a “structured feedback loop” to inform funding and policy decisions.

The body is currently advertising for a permanent chair and board, so today’s 64-page report would have been written mostly by Department for Education civil servants and Pennycook, who himself is a DfE non-executive director.

Here’s FE Week’s roundup of the report.

Skills England to ‘collaborate intensively’

When it was announced in the King’s Speech in July, Number 10 said the aim of the Skills England 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”.

Pennycook said in the report that the new body will “collaborate intensively with our colleagues across government and in the regions”.

Skills England will also work with the Industrial Strategy Council (ISC), trade unions and local leaders on the introduction of a new Industrial Strategy.

“The Industrial Strategy will aim to secure investment into crucial sectors of the economy to drive long-term sustainable, inclusive and secure growth,” the report said.

Pennycook added that it will also work with the devolved nations for more “effective” data sharing and a better understanding of the UK labour market to inform its skills policy decisions.

He said: “Whilst we are called Skills England, the UK’s skills needs do not change or stop at Carlisle or Chepstow. We will work closely with our colleagues in the devolved nations to ensure that students and employers (the customers of our system) have a seamless experience throughout the four nations.”

Cross-departmental work is also promised as the Department for Work and Pensions and his Treasury will input on a forthcoming white paper called ‘Get Britain Working’ on how to prevent economic inactivity for people looking to return to work and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Office for Clean Energy Jobs will feed into green skills jobs needs.

‘Building on the progress’ of IfATE

The King’s speech also announced that powers from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) will be transferred to Skills England, with the former expected to close when its successor is fully operational.

“Working with the Department for Education, Skills England will ensure that there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers to access that are aligned with skills needs, building on the progress made by IfATE,” today’s report said.

Legacy of skills gaps

The report acknowledged the decline in training expenditure over a decade – which is at its lowest level since records began in 2011, with investment per employee down by 19 per cent in real terms – local level economic disparities and tight labour market conditions causing difficulties in hiring suitably skilled workers and an overall “legacy of large skills gaps”.

“There is clear evidence of a gap between the skills demanded by employers and the skills supplied by the system and possessed by individuals, i.e. a skills mismatch,” the document added.

It also found that, across the UK, almost 1 in 10, or over 2.5 million roles are in critical demand, with more than 90 per cent being in roles that require training or education. 

Looking to future skills needs, Skills England said it would conduct analysis to estimate future job projections and create a new measure capturing current labour demand – the Occupations in Demand index. It has already identified essential job roles for the future such as AI cyber security and heat pump installation jobs.

The report said: “Heat pump installation is an example of a clean energy workforce that will need to expand. The workforce is estimated to be in line with current demand but will need to grow significantly to meet rapid increases in future demand. The Heat Pump Association estimates that the number of full-time equivalent heat pump installers would need to increase from 2k in 2020 to 35k to keep up with future demand.”

The body will also coordinate with government departments to define the “priority” workforces that they are responsible for or reliant on.

Next steps

This autumn, Skills England said it will build on its early engagement with stakeholders by conducting a series of roundtables and webinars in the autumn to “further test and refine the initial assessment of skills needs”.

The body will also undertake and share further analysis building on the work previously led by the Unit for Future Skills. This will include mapping occupations onto education pathways to understand the most common routes into priority professions and working with the Office for National Statistics on their development of online job adverts.

Skills England will be consulting employers and others for their input on what training should be accessible through the growth and skills levy and will work closely with the Migration Advisory Committee to grow the domestic skills pipeline.

Shorter apprenticeships and level 7 restrictions confirmed by Starmer

The prime minister has pledged to “rebalance” apprenticeship spending in favour of younger people by shortening the programmes and restricting employer levy investment on level 7 training.

Sir Keir Starmer also confirmed plans for new, paid “foundation” apprenticeships, which appear similar to unpaid traineeships that were axed under the previous government.

The leader used his conference speech to highlight how Labour will “get our skills system right”.

He said: “We’ve got to give businesses more flexibility to adapt to real training needs and also unlock the pride, the ambition, the pull of the badge of the shirt that young people feel when building a future, not just for themselves but for their community.”

Level 7 cuts

The Department for Education confirmed after the Starmer’s speech that this will include moving some level 7 apprenticeships outside the scope of levy funding – a policy that FE Week revealed last night.

A DfE spokesperson said: “This will involve businesses funding more of their level 7 apprenticeships – equivalent to a master’s degree and often accessed by older or already well qualified employees – outside of the levy.”

New quango Skills England will be tasked with deciding which level 7 apprenticeships will be subject to the restriction.

The Association of Employers and Learning Providers is “concerned” by the move. Chief executive Ben Rowland said: “Funding all of this [reform] through the removal of government subsidy on the majority of level 7 apprenticeships is disappointing.

“While it may not be surprising given underfunding throughout the apprenticeship system, this could have been avoided if the £800 million gap between the amount taken in by the apprenticeship levy, and the actual programme budget was plugged – or even by looking at an alternative funding model.”

Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes said that where employers “truly value” those level 7 apprenticeships “then I hope that they invest their own money in them, showing that they provide a good return on investment”.

End of 12-month minimum duration for some

The new levy will also allow funding for shorter apprenticeships. Skills England will again decide which types of sectors this rule will be open to.

The law currently states that apprenticeships must be a minimum duration of 12 months. The policy was introduced in 2012 but some have complained the requirement is too arbitrary as apprentices can become qualified in a shorter timeframe.

Foundation apprenticeships

Starmer also announced the development of new, foundation apprenticeships that offer training to young people who are not ready to start at level two or three.

Labour teased plans to introduce a scheme similar to traineeships, scrapped by the previous government due to low take up, in June.

FE Week understands that unlike traineeships, foundation apprenticeships will be a paid job. 

These new apprenticeships will “give young people a route in to careers in critical sectors, enabling them to earn a wage whilst developing vital skills”, a DfE spokesperson said.

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, warned the government that it needs to be “careful that reforms don’t compromise quality”.

He said: “The 12-month minimum duration for apprenticeships is a somewhat crude measure, but the government should be cautious about removing this: in other countries, apprenticeships last much longer. Similarly, we need more pre-apprenticeship training, but any new foundation apprenticeships need to be more than employability training to be called ‘apprenticeships’.”

A timeline for implementation of these new levy policies is not yet known. The DfE said it will set out further details on the scope of the offer and how it will be accessed in “due course”. 

Skills England’s first report, which provides an initial assessment of the nation’s working skills and future skills needs, was published during Starmer’s speech. Read the report here.