Recommendation 89

The National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh recognised the importance of skills as an issue, and in response announced the establishment of a UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce (UKSST). The Taskforce is run by the Department for Education, working with the National Shipbuilding Office.146 The Taskforce’s role is to “build a picture of industry’s skills needs and provide solutions to skills shortages, particularly those related to new and emerging technologies.”147 The UKSST has initially been tasked with building a picture of the skills needs and barriers within the shipbuilding industry; the Taskforce will then prepare a Shipbuilding Skills Strategy by 2023, which will include recommendations to help the UK shipbuilding sector meet its skills requirements, before taking steps to begin implementing those recommendations.148