Thirtieth Report - Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

DfE has high expectations for its new Unit for Future Skills, but the Unit does not yet have all the skilled staff it needs to meet these expectations. In February 2022, DfE announced the creation of a Unit for Future … Read more DfE has high expectations for its new Unit for Future Skills, but the Unit does not yet have all the skilled staff it needs to meet these expectations. In February 2022, DfE announced the creation of a Unit for Future Skills. This is a division within DfE but is intended to work across government, examining the interaction between the jobs and skills markets. DfE also plans that the Unit will engage with businesses and training providers to establish what additional analysis they would find helpful. The Unit currently has 18 staff, which is below complement as it has struggled to recruit the highly skilled analysts it needs. DfE recognises that it needs Developing workforce skills for a strong economy 7 to be data- and evidence-driven in what it does, and that the key to ensuring that the Unit achieves the necessary profile is to produce outputs that stakeholders find easy to use and helpful. Recommendation: DfE should write to us, alongside its Treasury Minute response, with an update on: • the staffing position of the Unit for Future Skills, and how any shortfall in resourcing is affecting the delivery of its programme of work; and • how it plans to assess and monitor the impact of the Unit’s work. 8 Developing workforce skills for a strong economy 1 Government skills programmes Show less

View Details →

We asked DfE about the causes of the decline, both in overall participation and among participants in disadvantaged areas. It replied that one of the main reasons for the overall fall in learner numbers was the reduction in the amount of funding it had put into the system over the …

View Details →

DfE suggested several possible reasons for the particular decline in participation in disadvantaged areas and among disadvantaged learners. First, it told us that there had been bigger drops in participation in lower levels of study than in higher levels. Second, it explained that it was harder in deprived areas to …

View Details →

In written evidence, the Federation of Small Businesses told us that making the apprenticeships system work better for small employers was fundamental to increasing participation among young people and disadvantaged groups. It noted that, since the apprenticeships reforms in 2017, there had been an increase in the number of adults …

View Details →