Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
We are concerned that neither the private sector nor the civil service yet have the...
Conclusion
We are concerned that neither the private sector nor the civil service yet have the necessary skills to deliver the Net Zero Strategy. The Department acknowledges that the private sector does not currently have the skills to deliver key aspects of the Strategy, such as for buildings and low-carbon heating. It is, nevertheless, confident of this capacity and capability in future. For example, it considers it will achieve its target to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 because discussions with industry have suggested that heating engineers with ‘transferable skills’ can be retrained as heat pump engineers. However, the recent failure of the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme was in part driven by the lack of skilled workers. The civil service will also need to ensure it has people with the requisite skills to deliver net zero. The Green Book has been updated, requiring officials to assess the carbon impacts of policies; however, the distribution of officials with these skills is not uniform across 8 Achieving Net Zero: Follow up government, with the highest concentrations in the Department, Department for Transport and Defra. The Department, working with the Government Skills and Curriculum Unit, is trying to develop the civil service’s future development pipeline, including through specialisms and the fast stream. Recommendation: The Department should: • Set out its strategy for encouraging the private sector workforce to develop the skills needed to achieve net zero, drawing on the recommendations included in the Green Jobs Taskforce. • Work with the Cabinet Office to perform a comprehensive analysis of the skills needed in the civil service to deliver net zero and fill gaps either through increased cross-departmental working, training or recruitment.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2023 5.2 The Net Zero Strategy set out the government’s initial response to the Green Jobs Taskforce. 5.3 This includes plans to work with industry to create the skilled workforce needed to deliver our climate targets. This includes green apprenticeships, retraining bootcamps, setting up the Green Jobs Delivery Group with industry, and publishing a climate and sustainability strategy for education and children’s’ services. For example, heat pump installer training is taking place across the United Kingdom, with numerous providers offering courses. Through the Skills Training Competition, the government spent nearly £6 million on training for tradespeople delivering green home energy improvements. 5.4 The Net Zero Strategy recognises the importance of the Civil Service having the right skills to deliver net zero. It sets out a series of measures – including a new training offer for all civil servants to be rolled out shortly. The recently published Declaration on Government Reform identifies reducing carbon emissions and other elements of net zero as a priority. Other measures include expanding training for Fast Streamers on net zero and embedding net zero in the standards for the Policy Profession, for the first time explicitly recognising that good policy making requires an understanding of the climate impacts of decisions. 5.5 Significant wider work is underway to improve Civil Service skills. An overhaul of Civil Service training was launched in January 2022 that will equip civil servants with the skills and knowledge to deliver the best possible public services, become less reliant on expensive external consultants, and build back stronger, fairer, safer and greener. The new Curriculum and Campus for Government Skills will transform training and development for civil servants from the core knowledge needed at the beginning of their career through to specialist training in areas such as economics, data usage, the physical sciences, and constitutional issues.