Government is acting to tackle skills crisis
WE fAcE a major challenge: the pressing need for more highly skilled people, trained effectively, to grow the economy and raise productivity. This is a problem that governments have been trying to solve for decades and, although we made progress in the last Parliament, this problem is only becoming more urgent. To not have a workforce with the skills or the means to learn the necessary skills for employment can be a barrier to growth, which is why the skills agenda is a priority for the government as we move into a post-Brexit setting. The government’s skills agenda
centres on the development of post-16 and adult education. It is the government’s intention to have every young person leaving school to view an apprenticeship or going to university in equal merit. After all, apprenticeships combine theory and practice while simultaneously allowing the individual to earn and the productivity of businesses to increase. It is welcome news that in Milton
Keynes there were 10,180 apprenticeship starts during 2010- 15, over double that achieved in the
The need to find a solution to the challenge is becoming more urgent, says Milton Keynes North MP Mark Lancaster.
previous 2005-10 Parliament. Nationally, the last Parliament saw the biggest ever increase with more than two million people starting an apprenticeship. The government is, however, committed to going further and delivering three million more apprenticeships by 2020. To achieve this, it will introduce
an apprenticeship levy on large firms and make it easier for businesses to take on apprentices. for example, government has abolished employers’ National Insurance contributions for apprenticeships under 25; will pay 100 per cent of training costs for employers with fewer than 50 employees who take on apprentices aged 16 to 18; will pay an additional £1,000 to employers who take on 16- to 24- year-olds who have been in care or who have an education and health plan.
The government also set up the Independent Panel on Technical Education, headed by Lord Salisbury, in 2015 to advise on how best to improve technical education. In April
2016, the panel recommended streamlining technical education into a limited number of designated routes into skilled employment and aligning technical education to the skill requirements of the economy, by giving employers the opportunity to directly influence skills training. In July 2016, ministers published
the Post-16 Skills Plan, setting out the government’s plan to support young people and adults to secure skilled employment and meet the needs of the economy. The Plan accepted the recommendations made by the Independent Panel on Technical Education, which are reflected in the Technical and further Education Bill currently going through Parliament. To ensure that the quality of
apprenticeships and technical training is not lost, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education will be a new public body with responsibility for assuring standards in England. It will enshrine the employer-led approach both in the way it conducts its business and
through its leadership and will make decisions about apprenticeship and training quality independently of government ministers. If the key stakeholders -
employers, the government, colleges and training providers - all commit to these reforms and are willing to play a full role in implementing them, England and Milton Keynes will benefit from a potentially word-class technical education system. The first 50 years of Milton Keynes have built the foundations for its current and future economic prosperity. As ever, there is more to be done and the next 50 years will be our chance to go further and reach our potential as the skills shortage is addressed.
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