Recommendation 24

We recommend that: • Skills England commission and publish an analysis of the skills gaps across the eight growth-driving sectors and report to Parliament within six months. This should include an estimate of the current and future skills gaps across these sectors over the course of the 10-year period of the industrial strategy and provide recommendations on the funding and policy changes needed to fill these shortfalls, including funding gaps for courses that need to be filled. • The Government’s plans in the English Devolution White Paper to devolve more responsibility for skills to local leaders should go further. Responsibility for technical education and training post-16 should be devolved, to the maximum possible extent to Mayoral Combined Authorities and newly created Strategic Authorities, once they have demonstrated capability to manage local systems. 74 • Responsibility and funding for skills policy at a national level should be transferred to the Department for Business and Trade. This will help ensure national skills policy is more attuned to the needs of employers and is more aligned with the Government’s industrial strategy and growth mission. • The Minister for Skills should be a joint ministerial role across the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Education to ensure there is a coordination between the two departments, as people transition from school to post-16 education and training. (Recommendation, Paragraph 107)