A Department for Education non-executive director and former boss of the Co-operative Group has been named interim chair of Skills England, a new national body aimed to fix the “fragmented and broken” skills system.
Richard Pennycook (pictured), currently lead non-executive director at the DfE, will lead the establishment of Skills England while ministers look to appoint a permanent board, chair and CEO in the coming months.
It follows last week’s King’s Speech which announced legislation that will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to the new skills body.
IfATE will continue while Skills England is established in phases over the next 9 to 12 months, the government said today. The DfE has so far refused to clarify whether this means IfATE will close entirely once Skills England is fully operational.
A skills England bill will be introduced in parliament this year that will initially insource “relevant” functions from IfATE to the secretary of state for education while Skills England is being set up, a spokesperson said.
Launching the new body today, prime minister Keir Starmer said Skills England will “kickstart economic growth, by opening up new opportunities for young people and enabling British businesses to recruit more home-grown talent”.
DfE will initially host Skills England in a “shadow form” while parliament passes legislation to officially establish its role and remit in law. In the meantime, Skills England will begin to build relationships with employers and carry out an assessment of future skills needs.
Apprenticeship levy reform
Establishing Skills England to co-ordinate a national strategy to boost the nation’s skills base was a key plank of Labour’s education policy pre-election.
As well as bringing together unions, businesses, local government and training providers to have “strategic oversight” of the skills system, Skills England will have several more operational responsibilities.
Ministers have confirmed Skills England will decide what non-apprenticeship training courses employers can fund through the new growth and skills levy.
The new levy will replace the apprenticeship levy and will allow employers to spend a proportion of their funds on training courses for the skills they need, in addition to apprenticeships.
However today’s announcement, like Labour’s manifesto, doesn’t mention previously announced detail that at least 50 per cent of employers’ levy spend must go on apprenticeships before non-apprenticeship funding can be accessed.
Number 10 said last week 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”.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said he was “pleased to see that ministers are getting on so quickly in establishing Skills England”.
He added: “A shadow board can make a quick start, alongside legislation, to firmly place Skills England at the heart of the government’s drive for economic growth. We will do all that we can to help Skills England make a strong start and establish itself over the coming months and years.”
But Len Shackleton, labour market expert at the Institute of Economic Affairs, questioned the value of another skills quango. He said: “Another top-down talking shop seems unlikely to achieve very much.
“Successful real businesses will make their own arrangements and send second-raters rather than top executives to meetings, which will be dominated by public sector attendees. Documents and policy statements will be prepared by consultants with no skin in the game.”
Shackleton added: “Despite the bustle and the new appointments on generous salaries, it’s unlikely much will be achieved. In five or six years time there will be another reorganisation as another newbie administration thinks it has the key, a process which has been going on for at least sixty years.”
Training up ‘home-grown talent’
Labour has also emphasised Skills England’s cross-government responsibilities through prioritising training against the government’s national industrial strategy and working to reduce immigration by working with the migration advisory committee to reduce reliance on overseas workers in certain sectors like construction and care.
Starmer said: “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”.
Labour has also previously said Skills England will run a bidding process for colleges to become designated “technical excellence colleges” if they show they are meeting local skills needs, though no further detail on this was announced today.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “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 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.”
However, it remains unclear how Skills England will work with the higher education regulator, the Office for Students, which is also currently looking for a chair, to fulfil Labour’s manifesto commitment to a “comprehensive” strategy for post-16 education.
Who is Richard Pennycook?
Skills England’s interim chair is Richard Pennycook, the Department for Education’s lead non-executive director. Phillipson is Pennycook’s ninth education secretary having been appointed by Justine Greening in 2017.

DfE’s non-executive board works with ministers on the running of the department and the delivery of its objectives. The board is chaired by the secretary of state.
In this role, Pennycook also chairs the DfE board’s nominations committee which advises and scrutinises DfE’s ministers’ appointments to key roles.
DfE’s latest available accounts show Pennycook was paid £20,000 a year as its lead non-executive director.
This is not the first interim skills post Pennycook has been asked to fill.
Following the last government’s skills for jobs white paper in 2021, Pennycook stepped in as interim chair of a new skills reform board before a permanent post-holder was found.
Pennycook is credited with rescuing the Co-operative Group as CEO after its banking division, Co-op Bank, nearly collapsed in 2013. He left the Co-op in 2017 and joined the DfE’s board that year.
His current portfolio includes directorships at Boparan Holdings, which owns 2 Sisters Food Group and restaurants like Ed’s Easy Diner and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, travel firm On The Beach Plc, and ethical fashion brand Wolf & Badger.
Pennycook was made a CBE for services to retail in 2020 birthday honours.
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