The new government is to be applauded for its mission to achieve economic growth. This includes its plans for strategic investment in housing and infrastructure. But one area its thinking is lacking is on skills. Other major international competitors have established national skills strategies, functioning skills systems, and are investing heavily in this area.
In my view our failure on skills provision is the root cause of our poor record on growth. So far, the big idea around skills for the UK is to set up a new quango, Skills England, to replace the Institute for Apprenticeships and Education (IfATE), together with changes to the Apprenticeship Levy in England. These initiatives are not enough.
There are three main ingredients for sustained high economic growth. Investment in advanced technologies, investment in strategic infrastructure and investment in workforce skills. My focus is on the last of these.
Achieving an increase in productivity and meaningful economic growth has eluded the UK economy for decades. Alongside this has been a failure to get to grips with skills. Both government and employers’ investment levels in skills have declined over the last ten years. We are going in the wrong direction.
Because we have not sorted “skills” we cannot capture the desired goal of growth and increased prosperity. Without this it will become difficult to correct inequalities in our society and improve our public services.
Growth and improvement in skills go hand in hand with each other. Against a background of rapidly changing technologies, you cannot have one without the other.
[See also: How the apprenticeship levy helps small businesses to transform their workforce]
So, what happened? Over the last few decades, we have had several attempts to “fix” skills. But that is itself, part of the problem. We have regularly changed direction and introduced new ideas without giving time to try and test other policies. We have pursued change for change’s sake. Our implementation of skills policy has left much to be desired and as a result, has become fragmented. More importantly we have confused “skills” with education.
Education is the knowledge (academic and/or practical) and personal attributes we give to our young people during their time in full-time education. This is to prepare them to enter the world of work. Schools, sixth-form colleges, further education colleges and universities are all intended to contribute to this system.
Clearly it is a good idea if industries inform the full-time education system what employers need to see in new entrants to the workforce. But as the normal annual cohort of new entrants is around 2 per cent of the whole workforce, relying on this as a means of making step changes in skills and productivity is never going to achieve the turnaround in economic performance. We are not focusing on the right aspect of skills; that is the other 98 per cent.
Skills are the competency a person gains during their time working in the economy. They cover occupational and sectoral skills and knowledge, experience, employability or soft skills and behaviours needed to be a productive and competitive member of the UK’s workforce. It is acknowledged that skills requirements vary to a minor extent across the whole of the UK, but for many occupations the core standards are the same across the global arena.
The development of skills must be driven by our industries and the needs of the economy. They must apply to the whole of the workforce not just those starting work. We need a workforce with skills that can drive competitiveness and high productivity, supported by the necessary and all-important capital investment in new technologies and strategic infrastructure.
Over the last few decades, particularly the past ten years, “skills” policy has become increasingly fragmented. In England it has been education-driven and predominantly aimed at full-time programmes for new entrants. We have different approaches in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This, even though we are trying to improve the UK’s economic growth not just England’s.
Despite this, the big idea is the creation of a new body – “Skills England” – which includes changes to the Apprenticeship Levy in England that many are not buying into. All of this reinforces the fragmentation and fails to get to the heart of the problem. That is not to say that the coordination of skills across the devolved authorities in England is not part of the solution, but it can never be the whole of the answer. The levy also needs reform, but within the context of creating UK-wide economic growth.
If we reflect on where we have got to with implementing skills policy over the past decade, clearly there have been some good elements that have worked such as improvements in certain occupational standards. But overall, most people consider skills provision in England a broken system.
Industry wants a standard approach with minimum bureaucracy. It also wants levels of skills that match our international competitors. An individual wants to know that they have transferrable skills and qualifications which allow them to progress anywhere in the UK and even abroad. They want the skills to achieve social mobility.
Countries that have economic growth rates we could only dream of have invested and continue to invest in the skills of their workforce. They have national skills strategies; standardised modular learning opportunities, including short-form training options; are aiming to get their people to international standards (not just local); have a single regulated skills system across the whole of their countries, with coherent mechanisms for devolution to the states or regions.
In comparison, the UK has no single regulated skills system, strategy or coordinated approach to devolution and is therefore failing to upskill its existing workforce. We need a world-class skills system that achieves fair economic growth.
So how might we move this forward? In partnership with the New Statesman we will be running a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference this September. Come and hear our thoughts and share your views.
[See also: Louise Dawe-Smith: “Confidence is the biggest thing an apprenticeship can teach you”]
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