As pressure mounts to address the chronic skills and Labour gap in construction, industry bodies have welcomed the launch of Skills England.
Keir Starmer announced the launch of Skills England, a new government organisation to address the ‘broken and fragmented’ skills and training system.
The Prime Minister along with education secretary Bridget Phillipson launched the body on Monday, in line with Labour’s manifesto pledge to end the reliance on overseas workers by bringing in workforce and training plans for sectors including construction.
Phillipson appointed former Co-op boss Richard Pennycook to serve as interim chair at Skills England.
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.
“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.”
The organisation will aim to identify the training for which the growth and skills levy will be accessible, which the Government acknowledges needs reform.
Its plan is to give businesses more flexibility to spend levy funds on training for the skills they need, which employers have long been calling for.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has welcomed the Labour Government placing construction industry skills “at the heart of driving economic growth” which the CITB believes Skills England will play an important role in.
Ian Woodcroft, head of policy and government relations at CITB, said: “This provides a transformative opportunity to better align education policy with our industry’s skills system and employer needs.”
However, the question still looms whether Labour will be able to plug the skills gap in time to meet forecasted construction output growth overall.
Skills England aims to be established within a nine to 12-month period.
The BBC reported that Sir Keir acknowledged his approach would not provide a “quick fix”.
“The simple fact is that we do not currently have enough workers in the construction industry – in 2023, there was a net loss of 10,000 construction workers.
Our research shows that under Labour’s homebuilding plans alone, the equivalent of an additional 152,000 workers will need to be found,” Woodcroft added.
A report by CITB in May revealed that 251,000 extra construction workers are required by 2028 to meet demand, with 31 percent of construction employers finding suitably skilled staff remains their key challenge.
Elsewhere, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) acknowledged Labour’s recognition of the problem but issued caution over the new governmental body.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “details about how Skills England will operate remain light.
“It will be vital that future delivery focuses on a long-term skills plan being put in place, and that plans to allow up to 50 per cent of the Apprenticeship Levy to be redirected into other forms of training don’t result in a fall in the number of construction apprenticeships available.”
Was this interesting? Try 2,000 home regeneration gets green light in deprived North London ward
If you have a tip or story idea that fits with our publication, please contact miles@wavenews.co.uk
Get industry news in 5 minutes!
A daily email that makes industry news enjoyable. It’s completely free.
