Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
In 2020 government established the Government Skills and Curriculum Unit.
Conclusion
In 2020 government established the Government Skills and Curriculum Unit. The Strategy indicates that this Unit is working with the Department to review the skills, training and networks that civil servants need to achieve net zero.76 In addition, the Department told us that government is also building its talent pipeline by, for example, embedding climate considerations in the Policy Profession Standards, the competency framework for civil servants developing policy, and introducing climate training into the Civil Service Fast Stream.77 66 Q 69 67 NAPIT, page 2 68 NAPIT, page 2 69 Net Zero Strategy, chapter 4, page 258–259, paras 54–58 70 Committee of Public Accounts, Achieving Net Zero, Forty-Sixth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 935, 1 March 2021, para 14 71 Q 71 72 Committee of Public Accounts, Specialist Skills in the civil service, Thirty-Second Report of Session 2019–21, HC 686, 11 December 2020, para 7 73 Cabinet Office, Declaration on Government Reform, June 2021, part 2 74 Q 71 75 Q 71 76 Net Zero Strategy, page 258, paras 54–55 77 Q 86; Net Zero Strategy, page 249, para 5; page 258–9, paras 56–58 16 Achieving Net Zero: Follow up Contributing to reducing global emissions
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.