Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
The Department and HS2 Ltd are not adequately engaging with the Department for Education to...
Conclusion
The Department and HS2 Ltd are not adequately engaging with the Department for Education to secure the skills required for the future of the programme and training the next generation of skilled workers. We have repeatedly raised concerns that the Department and HS2 Ltd did not have the skills or capability they needed now or in the future to successfully deliver the programme. The Department and HS2 Ltd have repeatedly failed to convince us that their plans to secure the future skills and capability needed are enough. In 2016, HS2 Ltd and the Department told the previous Committee that the National College for High Speed Rail would be crucial in training people in the skills required for High Speed 2 and other infrastructure projects. The college has since become the National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure and, most recently, merged with the University of Birmingham. The Department admits that the performance of the college has been disappointing and hopes that its latest merger, new leadership and new curriculum from September 2021 will be an opportunity to get the best out of the arrangement. Yet the Department’s involvement with the college has been limited as it falls under the Department for Education’s accountability remit. We are disappointed in this lack of engagement, as it is in the Department’s strategic interests to have a strong relationship with the college and ensure it provides the skills and curriculum High Speed 2 and other infrastructure projects need. Recommendation: The Department must proactively engage with the Department for Education and other relevant education providers to ensure there are plans 8 HS2 Summer 2021 in place for further education colleges to get the through-flow required for the programme. The Department should write to us to explain how it is engaging with these stakeholders within three months.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 The department wrote to the Committee in November 2021 setting out how it is engaging with the Department for Education (DfE) and other relevant education providers. 5.3 HS2 Ltd has had a team focusing on this from early on in the programme and in 2018 published a HS2 Skills, Employment and Education strategy. This strategy seeks to ensure that the programme has the people with the skills needed and will leave a skills legacy. More recently, the Building the Skills to Deliver HS2 report was published by HS2 Ltd and sets out what skills interventions are already in place and how this work has been refocused in light of the start of main works construction and the pandemic. 5.4 The department worked closely with HS2 Ltd and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA, which is responsible for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults) to support the recent merger between the University of Birmingham and National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI). Ofsted’s latest monitoring inspection of NCATI had judged the college to be making significant progress and the department will work with the college and the ESFA to continue to build on this. 5.5 Alongside NCATI there are several Further Education (FE) providers along the HS2 route that provide relevant courses and training and the department engages with ESFA regarding this provision as well. These and other FE providers across the country will support not just the delivery of HS2 but also infrastructure projects across the country. The department will continue to work closely with the ESFA to identify any challenges to provision, to support the HS2 programme and the department’s wider infrastructure programme.