UK Inquiry Tracker

Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 6 Sep 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 Parliament page

In July 2022 the NAO reported that the UK “faces a major challenge in ensuring it has a sufficiently skilled workforce”, with the head of the NAO, the Comptroller and Auditor General, concluding that “There is a risk that, despite government’s greater activity and good intent, its approach may be … Read more In July 2022 the NAO reported that the UK “faces a major challenge in ensuring it has a sufficiently skilled workforce”, with the head of the NAO, the Comptroller and Auditor General, concluding that “There is a risk that, despite government’s greater activity and good intent, its approach may be no more successful than previous attempts to provide the country with the skills it needs.” A skilled workforce is critical to the country’s economic success and to achieving other government aims such as “levelling up”. Economic and societal changes are making the skills challenge more acute - the UK’s exit from the EU has reduced the supply of workers from member states and potentially increased the need for the country to train its own workers. The Government’s commitment to achieve ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will create new skilled jobs and around one in five existing jobs is likely to be affected by the transition. But the NAO found that participation in government-funded further education and skills training has declined significantly, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The number of adult learners fell by 48% over the last decade, from 3.2 million in 2010/11 to 1.6 million in 2020/21. From 2015/16 to 2020/21, the number of participants aged 19 and over in England’s 20% most disadvantaged areas dropped by 39%, compared with a 29% drop overall. Largely because of the drop in learners, there was a 46% fall in the Skills Index – government’s measure of the impact of the further education system on productivity – from 2012/13 to 2020/21. The 2022 white paper Levelling Up the United Kingdom set out the government’s plans to address regional and local inequalities, but according to the NAO report “its aims go only some way towards addressing the decline in participation in skills training”. By 2030, the government wants 200,000 more people in England to successfully complete high-quality skills training annually, including 80,000 more people in the lowest skilled areas. Achieving this would only partly reverse the fall of around 280,000 learners in the 20% most disadvantaged areas since 2015/16. The Committee will question senior officials at the Departments for Education. If you have evidence on these findings and issues to inform PAC’s questioning of the departments, please submit it through the tab below by 6pm on Monday 10 October 2022. Show less

6 Recommendations

22 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

24 Feb
2023

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirtieth report from Session 2022-23

14 Dec
2022

Report published

Thirtieth Report - Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

17 Oct
2022

Oral evidence

Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

17 Oct
2022

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

17 Oct 2022

View on parliament.uk

Developing workforce skills for a strong economy

Carl Creswell · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Paul Kett · Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Thirtieth Report - Developing workforce skills for a strong econ…	HC 685	14 Dec 2022	28	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results

6 Recommendation Not Addressed

Thirtieth Report - Developing work…

DfE has high expectations for its new Unit for Future Skills, but the Unit does...

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

Government Response

This response addresses recommendations from a different Public Accounts Committee report, not the Foreign Affairs Committee report. Therefore, it does not engage with the substance of the recommendation.

HM Treasury

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7 Conclusion

Thirtieth Report - Developing work…

We asked DfE about the causes of the decline, both in overall participation and among...

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 … Read more

HM Treasury

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8 Conclusion

Thirtieth Report - Developing work…

DfE suggested several possible reasons for the particular decline in participation in disadvantaged areas and...

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, … Read more

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion

Thirtieth Report - Developing work…

In written evidence, the Federation of Small Businesses told us that making the apprenticeships system...

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, … Read more

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 25 of 6 classified

Accepted 9

Acknowledged 12

Not Addressed 1

Rejected 3

Total 6 recs + 22 conclusions