Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 65
65
Accepted
Provide realistic assessment of construction workforce numbers and skills needed for housing and climate targets
Recommendation
We recommend that the Government, in response to this report, should: • Provide a realistic assessment of the construction workforce and what is needed to deliver the Government’s housing targets for each remaining year of this Parliament. This should include: ○ Annual estimates of the number of construction workers needed to meet the Government’s yearly and five-year home building targets. ○ The projected natural wastage (i.e. rates of retirement) for each year from the existing workforce, to establish a baseline for recruitment and anticipate the impacts on home building. ○ Projections as to how many new recruits are expected to join the construction workforce, after adequate training that focusses on building residential properties. ○ Possible contingencies, for each year, if existing and projected workforce levels are insufficient to deliver annual housing targets. • Set out an analysis of the skill set the Government believes will be required to deliver 1.5 million homes, in line with climate and biodiversity targets. This should include an analysis of any significant gaps and how they will be addressed, in addition to: 97 ○ Skills required to install sustainable building materials. ○ Digital skills and tools to improve efficiency and support the measurement and reduction of embodied and operational carbon. ○ Skills and knowledge to maximise the development of brownfield sites for housing. ○ Skills needed to retrofit existing housing stock, to meet environmental and net zero standards. ○ An ability to work with ecologists and planning professionals to ensure optimum environmental and nature-based outcomes and support key policies such as Biodiversity Net Gain. (Recommendation, Paragraph 218)
Government Response Summary
The government states that Skills England publishes assessments of priority skills needed across the economy to 2030, including construction and housebuilding and mentions additional funding and plans addressing skills gaps.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
116. Skills England regularly publishes assessments of priority skills needed across the economy to 2030, across 10 critical sectors including construction and housebuilding. The most recent assessment of labour demand, published in August 2025, sets out the additional construction workforce needed to deliver 1.5m homes over the Parliament. These reports focus on additional labour demand. Natural workforce growth or wastage in the construction sector have been assessed separately in the industry training boards review published in January 2025. The Government is also developing a Construction Jobs Plan that will set out actions and commitments to address sector shortages. 117. The Government is working closely with industry to provide high-quality training opportunities and build a competent, diverse workforce that is fit for the future. The June 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion for the overall skills system per year by 2028–29, supporting 65,000 additional learners per year by 2028–29, including in construction. At Spring Statement 2025 the Government also committed £625 million for construction skills to recruit an additional 60,000 construction workers by 2028–29 and establish 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges. 118. The Government’s investment in growing and upskilling the construction workforce will help ensure the sector has the skills needed to operate safely, competently and more efficiently, including on brownfield sites and working with sustainable and lower carbon building materials. The Government’s construction product reforms will further support competence and complement wider government and industry initiatives. 119. A robust, competent supply chain for installing fabric and clean heat measures is essential for retrofitting existing housing stock and supporting new housing delivery and infrastructure. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published a Warm Homes Plan in January 2026 setting out its plans to invest £15bn in home upgrades and estimating the number of jobs that will be created and supported across the heat and buildings sector. Building on this, and alongside the Clean Energy Jobs Plan published in September 2025, the Government has made a series of policy commitments to address both existing and emerging skills gaps in the sector, with implementation scheduled for this Parliament. 120. In 2025, MHCLG commissioned a nationwide pulse survey on skills and resources in authorities with planning responsibilities. The survey was designed to refresh our evidence base and provide updated figures on key workforce metrics. It also enables comparison with the baseline established through the 2023 survey. The findings are being used to shape future priorities and guide the strategic direction of the Planning Capacity and Capability Programme, ensuring our interventions address the most critical skills and resource gaps.