Recommendation 21

The NAO found that government had not made clear to what extent it was seeking to influence employers to invest more in developing the skills of their own workforces.28 We asked whether there was scope for government to do more to reach out to employers who were unwilling to invest or uninvolved in the skills system. BEIS told us that it was most concerned about small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which frequently told government that they lacked the resources to invest in workforce training, especially in recent years when they had been struggling with other external challenges. It explained that, while it was difficult for it to help SMEs with the resources to invest in training, it was hopeful that simplifying the skills system and making it more flexible would make it easier for SMEs to navigate.29