Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 16
Third Report - Green Jobs
Published 25 Oct 2021
Paragraph 73
Environmental Audit Committee Green Jobs All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that Defra’s Skills Gap Plan cover all areas of the 25 Year Environment Plan and be accompanied by an Action Plan to address skills shortages, developed in co-ordination with the Department for Education and stakeholders. The Skills Gap Plan and Action Plan ought to be published by March 2022 at the latest and aligned with Defra’s existing and forthcoming sectoral plans and strategies, such as the Waste and Resources, Clean Air, Trees, Peat and Nature strategies.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Third Report - Green Jobs (HC 75), paragraph 73, 25 October 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 20 January 2022 (deadline 25 December 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's focus on green jobs and skills, points to its Net Zero Strategy and a new Green Jobs Delivery Group, and in places declines to set out the requested plans, costings or measures.
- A Green Jobs Delivery Group will include ministers from BEIS, Defra, DfE, DWP and DfT alongside an industry co-chair, with further detail "in the new year".
- On indicative costings for green jobs actions, it says further allocations depend on ongoing policy development, so "it is not possible to set these out to the Committee at this point".
- On a module on environmental sustainability in every apprenticeship and T Level, it says "we do not believe that a generic sustainability module across every occupational standard is appropriate". Sustainability elements are included "where occupationally relevant".
- On the Careers Strategy, it says it "currently do[es] not plan to update" it, as it has been superseded by the Skills for Jobs white paper.