Skills England programme to ‘help reduce reliance on overseas workers’

Skills England will bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to identify skills gaps nationwide.

The body, which will be chaired on an interim basis by Richard Pennycook CBE, former chief executive of the Co-operative Group and lead non-executive director at the Department for Education, will also work closely with the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to develop training plans for sectors that are currently reliant on immigrants to fill roles.

Announcing the launch of Skills England, 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.

“They will help to deliver our number one mission as a government, to kickstart economic growth, by opening up new opportunities for young people and enabling British businesses to recruit more home-grown talent.

“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.”

Skills England will identify the training for which the new Growth and Skills Levy, a replacement to the existing Apprenticeship Levy, will be accessible, giving businesses ‘more flexibility’ to spend levy funds on training for the skills they need.

The body will be established in phases over the next 12 months and will see the transfer of functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to Skills England.

This sits alongside work to simplify and devolve adult education budgets to Mayoral Combined Authorities.

A permanent board, chair and CEO will be appointed in due course.  

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the establishment of Skills England is a positive step that will help drive economic growth and upskill the current and future workforce.

“Given the right circumstances, the hospitality sector is capable of delivering growth of 6% per year, and a focus on skills is central to this ambition,” she said.

“The sector is already the third largest employer in the UK, providing 3.5 million people with jobs, so it’s vital that our voice is represented within the new body.

“We are pleased to see the commitment of the new body to broaden the types of training that the Apprenticeship Levy can be spent, which will allow us to deliver a Hospitality Skills Passport, however we also need to see a focus on how apprenticeship delivery can be improved for the benefit of both workers and businesses and a focus on pre-apprenticeship training and we look forward to working closely together to achieve this.”