Construction Leadership Council Writes To Skills England

The Construction Leadership Council has issued a letter to Skills England outlining the importance of the construction industry as a critical growth sector and the need for an effective skills system that meets the needs of the construction industry.

The letter outlines three key priority objectives for Skills England:

• Facilitate an employer-demand driven skills system across government.
  
  
• Unlock a more collaborative approach to evidence for better informed analysis.
  
  
• Ensure the growth & skills levy supports and incentivises employers to meet industry’s strategic skills needs.

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Richard,

Many congratulations on your appointment as Interim Chair of Skills England, and thank you for your recent engagement with us, we hope our contributions at the roundtable sessions were valuable. We are excited to continue working in partnership with you to shape a skills system that meets the current and future needs of the construction industry.

As a critical growth sector, supporting the skills needs of the construction industry will be essential to the success of the government’s mission to drive growth across the country. To deliver the government’s ambitious construction targets, we urgently need a skills system that can respond effectively to demand and provide a fully skilled construction workforce.

The Construction Leadership Council works in partnership with government, employers and clients and is well placed to advise on and support new skills initiatives and interventions.

Skills England presents an important opportunity to fundamentally rebalance the skills system, bridging the gap between the system as it exists and the system that is required. To achieve this, we would like Skills England to prioritise the following objectives: 

• Facilitate an employer-demand driven skills system across government. Skills England can play a crucial role in coordinating across government to deliver a transformational shift towards a clearer, smoother, more responsive skills system that is driven by employers’ skills needs and reflects employer demand. 
  
  
• Unlock a more collaborative approach to evidence for better informed analysis. Skills England has an opportunity to develop a more collaborative approach to gathering, sharing, and analysing the evidence base on skills demand and supply to ensure we have one single agreed version of skills needs. 
  
  
• Ensure the growth & skills levy supports and incentivises employers to meet industry’s strategic skills needs. Skills England has an opportunity to help employers engage less transactionally and more strategically with the new levy. This could be achieved through weighted funding that incentivises employers to take on apprentices at the levels, occupations, and geographies that reflect industry and government’s strategic needs. 

We continue to be a willing partner to government and Skills England and would welcome a meeting with you to agree a shared approach to drive forward these priorities.  I look forward to hearing from you and wish you the very best in your new role.

Yours sincerely, 
Mark Reynolds, Co-Chair,  Construction Leadership Council

Source : Construction Leadership Council

Image : Rawf8 / iStockphoto / 959567904

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