Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Accepted
Paragraph: 77
Ensure adequate funding for local training programmes and make business support conditional on upskilling employees.
Recommendation
The Government should ensure that mayoral combined authorities or local councils— especially those that govern strategically important sites where gigafactories could be built—have adequate and flexible funding to tailor support local training programmes. Offers of financial support to businesses in the battery supply chain should be conditional on these companies investing in upskilling and reskilling employees from the automotive industry and other sectors.
Government Response Summary
The government committed to publishing an action plan on green skills in 2024 and developing a forum with the National Manufacturing Skills Task Force, while also highlighting existing apprenticeship programmes and training initiatives.
Paragraph Reference:
77
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
A) The transition to EVs offers a significant opportunity for employment in the UK. Meeting domestic demand for batteries for EVs could boost employment by approximately 270,000 (full-time equivalent) jobs by 2040.5 This workforce must have appropriate skills across the battery value chain and at all skill levels. The Government will continue to ensure that manufacturing skills training and education is well supported by a high quality and employer-led skills system. B) Government supports manufacturing through our flagship Apprenticeship Programme, delivering manufacturing apprenticeships from Aerospace Engineering to Machining. To help smaller employers benefit from apprenticeships, the Department for Education (DfE) has launched an SME ‘Pathfinder’, including prioritising manufacturing, in four regions of the North of England to support those that have not had an apprentice in the past two years to do so – from recruitment to accessing funding. The Government is supporting plans to catalyse the growth sectors including advanced manufacturing by committing £50 million to deliver a 2-year apprenticeships pilot in England to explore ways to stimulate training in these sectors and address barriers to entry in high-value apprenticeships. 5 The Faraday Institution. ‘UK Electric Vehicle and Battery Production Potential to 2040.’ 2022. C) To support the Advanced Manufacturing Plan, the Department for Business and Trade will partner with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Green Jobs Action Plan to publish an action plan on green skills in 2024. We will work closely with the DfE and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to develop a forum with the National Manufacturing Skills Task Force. D) Thanks to Government support, the Faraday Battery Challenge has been able to fund two Battery Workforce Training Initiatives to support Level 2-3 vocational and technical training in the North-East and the Midlands. These initiatives will help to deliver innovative vocational and technical training to help upskill local workforces with the skills and qualifications they require for the battery industry. E) The Driving the Electric Revolution Building Talent for the Future programme has invested over £4 million to create and deliver course content and materials that will support skills, talent and training across Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) manufacturing and supply chains. This includes 29 projects delivered by 37 organisations.