Skilled worker mobility
Significant barriers for skilled workers attempting to transfer across and within specific sectors, despite skills shortages.
267 items
3 sources
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
92match
#12 - Consult the transport manufacturing sector on a ‘competency passport’ approach for worker transferability.
Skilled workers face significant barriers when trying to move across and within areas of transport manufacturing. This is especially frustrating when employers report persistent skills shortages. Skills England should by the end of 2026 consult the transport manufacturing sector on the potential benefits of a ‘competency passport’ approach to improving the ease with which workers can transfer between,...
Matched on
terms: skilled, worker
Committee recommendation
81match
#4 - Expand Skills Passports and establish commitments for energy sector workforce transition and support targets.
The Government must continue to tackle barriers preventing existing energy sector workers transitioning successfully. Skills Passports and associated funding should be expanded. The Government in its response to us should propose how the transferability of skills across traditional boundaries and between devolved administrations could be accommodated better by accreditation regimes. The Government should put in place commitments to...
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terms: skilled, worker
Committee recommendation
71match
#3 - Explore Danish measures for skills shortages and initiate work on home-grown talent for clean energy.
There may be a need for the import of some specific skills from overseas, at least in the short term, to deliver on targets for clean energy and the decarbonisation of buildings. We heard of significant efforts by the Danish government both to manage migration and fill their significant skills gap, especially in construction and related sectors. The...
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terms: skilled
Committee recommendation
70match
#23 - Slow transition of skilled home heating workforce to low carbon retrofit, compounded by ageing.
The UK has a skilled home heating workforce but its transition to work on low carbon retrofit is not happening at the pace required to upgrade homes at scale. This is compounded by a twin underlying crisis: few new entrants to the sector and an ageing workforce. (Conclusion, Paragraph 135)
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terms: skilled
Committee recommendation
70match
#26 - Link investment in training to nationally recognised accreditation for retrofit and clean energy workers
We emphasise that workforce expansion in retrofit and clean heat must go hand-in-hand with high and verifiable standards of competence. Written evidence criticised aspects of the existing skills and competence system in retrofit and related sectors, calling for tighter and more rigorous training standards, improved accreditation and the raising of quality where some courses were described as being...
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terms: worker
Committee recommendation
69match
#13 - Retaining oil and gas worker skills is vital for Scotland's energy transition.
It is vital that the skills of workers who have made Scotland’s oil and gas industry successful are not lost. We welcome the efforts of both governments to support the development of clean energy jobs and the transfer of skills from the oil and gas sector to other industries. In particular, 57 we welcome the establishment of the...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
68match
#5 - Third Report - The UK’s new immigration policy and the food supply chain
By focusing on academic qualifications, the new immigration policy takes a narrow focus on skills, although we welcome the Government’s decision to reduce the threshold to the equivalent of A-levels or Scottish Highers (RQF3/SCQF6). We are concerned that this policy will pose challenges for food manufacturers and others in the food supply chain who use lower skilled or...
Matched on
terms: skilled, worker
Committee recommendation
68match
#2 - Third Report - The UK’s new immigration policy and the food supply chain
The UK is competing globally for skilled labour, the availability of which is vital to the ongoing success of the UK food supply chain. It is important therefore that bureaucracy and fees are minimised, and their impact kept under review. We are concerned that many potential candidates from EEA countries may prefer to work in other countries within...
Matched on
terms: skilled, worker
Committee recommendation
66match
#6 - Set out options by 2026 for leveraging skilled immigration to boost home-grown talent.
The Government should, by the end of 2026, set out a range of further options for conditionality to leverage the short-term need for skilled immigration to boost the longer-term need for home-grown talent. An analysis of their potential impacts should be included. (Recommendation, Paragraph 34) The role of the Department and its Office for Clean Energy Jobs
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terms: skilled
Committee recommendation
66match
#1 - Skilled labour supply insufficient to meet demand for clean energy and decarbonised buildings.
The supply of skilled labour does not currently match the levels of demand expected to be required if the UK is to fulfil Government’s ambitions to deliver clean energy by 2030 and decarbonised buildings by 2050. (Conclusion, Paragraph 29)
Matched on
terms: skilled
Committee recommendation
64match
#34 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Union Learning Fund is a crucial programme for delivering workplace training. It has a strong track record of proven effectiveness and should be treated in line with other training providers in both the public and private spheres. It has a vital focus on tackling disadvantage, upskilling low-skilled workers, and offers excellent value for money. The Department has...
Matched on
terms: skilled, worker
Committee recommendation
61match
#18 - Establish a nationally recognised, industry-backed construction and retrofit skills programme with partners.
Given the scale of workforce demand in construction and retrofit, including the need for an estimated additional 250,000 workers to meet new housing targets and millions more for retrofit we recommend that Government work with CITB, Skills England, and industry to establish a nationally recognised, industry backed construction and retrofit skills programme. Evidence demonstrates that the current system...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
60match
#2 - Mismanged energy transition risks severe harm to UK economy, jobs, and Scottish communities.
Such an approach is the minimum necessary for a smooth transition of workers, and to avoid the risk of harming UK tax revenues, economic activity, and employment in many Scottish communities, where the effects of the transition will be disproportionately felt. The loss of jobs abroad has detrimental impacts to the UK. This represents not only the loss...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
57match
#14 - 8th Report - AUKUS
The Government must urgently remove barriers to workforce mobility across the AUKUS partners, beginning with security clearances. We recommend that the MOD, working with trilateral partners and in consultation with industry, set out within six months a clear plan to enable mutual recognition or continuity of security clearances for AUKUS-related work, and report to Parliament on progress. The...
Matched on
terms: mobility
Committee recommendation
56match
#5 - Fourth report - Labour shortages in the food and farming sector
The Government’s temporary short-term visa schemes for poultry workers, pork butchers and HGV drivers were seriously deficient. They were implemented too late, with many workers unable to arrive in time to help the sector prepare for Christmas and avoid poultry businesses reducing production. The schemes were not attractive Labour shortages in the food and farming sector 35 due...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
56match
#14 - Fifth Report - The semiconductor industry in the UK
We welcome the steps being taken by the Government to encourage talent from overseas, although it has yet to be seen whether they will help to solve the challenges faced by the semiconductor industry in recruiting and retaining workers with the necessary skills. The forthcoming Semiconductor Strategy should not shirk this issue and should set out how the...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
49match
#22 - Develop targeted support and upskilling for new Welsh farmers, protecting tenant farming
The UK Government should work in close partnership with the Welsh Government to develop more targeted support and technical upskilling programmes for young and new entrants into the Welsh farming sector. In doing so, it must actively promote and protect the vital role of tenant farming in Wales as a pathway into the industry. (Recommendation, Paragraph 111)
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
49match
#14 - Empower devolved governments and resource coordination for consistent training and skill portability.
We welcome the Government’s attention to leveraging the significant potential of various levels of devolved government across different parts of the UK. They should be empowered to lead on approaches tailored to local or regional strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the Government must provide the Office for Clean Energy Jobs and Skills England with the authority and resources to...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
48match
#11 - 6th Report - Earned Settlement: Examining the Government’s proposed reforms
The Home Office should explore more flexible visa arrangements for workers it is planning to place on long routes to settlement, so they are not reliant on a particular employer to maintain their immigration status. Workers granted sponsored visas could transition to a more flexible visa after a set amount of time. Workers granted freedom to move employers...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
48match
#10 - 6th Report - Earned Settlement: Examining the Government’s proposed reforms
There is a benefit to having a sponsored work visa system in that it supports oversight and makes it easier for the Home Office to confirm immigrants are coming to work in genuine roles. However, sponsorship-based visa systems increase the amount of power that employers have over their workers and limit the ability of workers to progress and...
Matched on
terms: worker
Committee recommendation
45match
#13 - 8th Report - AUKUS
We are deeply concerned by the Government’s failure to recognise the impact of barriers to workforce movement across the trilateral. The ensuing inconvenience and cost may currently be manageable—although they are having a stifling effect on collaboration—but it is clear to us that existing arrangements will not be sustainable as work on AUKUS intensifies. With the programme already...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#20 - Construction industry faces capacity challenges from ageing workforce and Brexit, impacting remediation acceleration.
We asked witnesses if the construction industry had the capacity to support the acceleration of remediation. The HBF told us acceleration was happening, but that it would be challenging. It outlined some of the challenges facing the sector, including an ageing construction workforce and Brexit, where stricter visa requirements have meant that some European builders have been unable...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
45match
#21 - UK Government fails to recognise tenant farming's vital role for new Welsh entrants
We support a long-term vision for farming in which generational transition within the sector is more actively supported. This includes creating clear and viable pathways for new entrants into farming, while ensuring that older farmers feel confident and assured to pass on their farms to a new generation of farmers. We are concerned that the UK Government fails...
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Committee recommendation
45match
#12 - Devolved governments are crucial for national workforce planning, ensuring consistent quality and skill portability.
National workforce planning will need to be delivered beyond Whitehall and devolved levels of government have a crucial role to play. National plans need to recognise that delivery of the workforce may diverge according to local circumstance and need while providing both a consistent quality in career pathways, standards and training and a portability of skills across the...
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Committee recommendation
44match
#29 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Department must work with the adult education sector to develop a better understanding of what data exists on community learning and where any gaps might be. This should include mapping and regularly publishing data on how many community learning centres exist nationally and where they are located. The Department must then set out an ambitious plan for...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
44match
#18 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Department should extend the entitlement to a free level 3 qualification further, so that unemployed adults who already have a level 3 are fully funded to retrain at level 3 in priority skills sectors.
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
44match
#31 - Third Report - Green Jobs
Without closely monitoring current and future skills needs and shortages across the net zero transition, there is a risk that today’s courses and training are not addressing the demands of the future. This monitoring needs to be ongoing, to respond to changes in the economy over the course of the transition. We are particularly concerned that, without such...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
44match
#11 - Fourth report - Labour shortages in the food and farming sector
Given the labour shortages facing the food and farming sector, we are surprised that the Government chose to ignore its own Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) advice on which roles should be added to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). While we note the Minister for Safe and Legal Migration’s argument that adding roles to the SOL is not as...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
44match
#1 - Fourth report - Labour shortages in the food and farming sector
The evidence we have received leaves us in no doubt that labour shortages, caused by Brexit and accentuated by the pandemic, have badly affected businesses across the food and farming sector. If not resolved swiftly, they threaten to shrink the sector permanently with a chain reaction of wage rises and price increases reducing competitiveness, leading to food production...
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Committee recommendation
44match
#10 - UK lacks sufficient education-to-industry pipeline and adequate workforce reskilling and upskilling support.
The UK does not have a sufficient pipeline from education to industry. Re- skilling and upskilling are also not adequately supported to better enable people to be retained by existing businesses or move from one business or sector to another. (Conclusion, Paragraph 64)
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Committee recommendation
44match
#42 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The Home Office plays a significant, even preeminent, role in the financial health of the higher education sector. This is because international students are heavily affected by changes in immigration rules. This influence came in for some strong criticism in written evidence, and we heard differing views on whether to include international students in the net migration target....
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IMB recommendation
43match
Bullingdon (2022)
The increasing churn of prisoners has meant that in many cases prisoners are not able to progress from unskilled work to skilled work, or if they do, to finish any training courses that they undertake as part of that skilled work. Similarly, in a number of cases prisoners have been unable to complete education courses owing to transfer...
Matched on
terms: skilled
Committee recommendation
40match
#31 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Department must make the case for a three-year funding settlement for community learning at the next spending review. The Department should review and consolidate the many community learning funding streams to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for providers. (Paragraph 83) Employer-led training
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#23 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Department’s lifelong learning strategy must include an ESOL element. The Department should take a lead role for adult ESOL strategy to ensure a more joined up approach to cross-Department ESOL funding and objectives. The Department must undertake analysis to assess current and longer-term demand for adult ESOL provision. Additional funding should then be allocated to areas with...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#16 - Third report - A plan for an adult skills and lifelong learning revolution
The Department should remove funding restrictions for first full level 2 qualifications, restoring funding for adults who are over 24 and employed. The Department must fund a promotional campaign to ensure no adult remains unaware of what qualifications and funding they are entitled to.
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#3 - Third Report - The UK’s new immigration policy and the food supply chain
The example of the veterinarian sector highlights the important role that overseas- trained employees undertake in the food supply chain, in this case working in abattoirs that are unattractive to UK-trained vets. In addition, these Official Veterinarians face an increase in their workload due to increased checks on exports 32 The UK’s new immigration policy and the food...
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Committee recommendation
40match
#32 - Third Report - Green Jobs
We recommend that by the end of 2021, the Skills and Productivity Board, or similar body, is tasked with ongoing monitoring of skills needs, with regular periodic reviews, to ensure forward-looking and responsive skills planning which encompasses the needs of the economy in reaching the Government’s net zero and long-term environmental ambitions. (Paragraph 132) Diversity, inclusion and access...
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Committee recommendation
40match
#22 - Sixth Report - Hydrogen and carbon capture in Scotland
We recommend that the UK and Scottish Governments work in tandem with industry in identifying the jobs and skills gaps in the existing workforce. Industry should work in cooperation with the UK Government to ensure their policies and initiatives are complementary. Industry alongside the Scottish Government should develop and implement a clear plan for transition and re-training its...
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classifier match
Committee recommendation
40match
#53 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The Government has decided to proceed with the international student levy, despite the evidence which we received expressing concerns about its impact on the higher education sector. We urge the Government to engage with and take on board the concerns of the higher education sector about the risks of the levy given the financial precariousness of different providers....
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Committee recommendation
40match
#41 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The financial pressures on the higher education sector have driven the sector’s reliance on international students. This reliance has been directly driven by decisions of the Government. Immigration policies have a very significant effect on the higher education sector, and the Government must consider the consequences of its decisions in a joined-up way. If the aim is to...
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Committee recommendation
36match
#8 - First Report - The future of UK music festivals
The UK has long occupied an important place in Europe’s live music ecosystem, and has traditionally been a starting point for tours creating work for UK-based freelancers and suppliers. The substantial UK-based infrastructure, including haulage, for tours and festivals is currently at risk unless the Government finds a solution to Brexit-related costs and complexities. We recommend that the...
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Committee recommendation
36match
#13 - Second Report - Promoting Britain abroad
We recommend that the Government should negotiate an agreement with the EU to provide a single-entry document for performers to submit to any EU country they wish to visit. (Paragraph 57) Resources
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Committee recommendation
36match
#54 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
In particular, we have heard there are concerns that the levy will disproportionately affect institutions with high numbers of local students and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, the very same students who the Government intends will benefit from maintenance grants. In its response, the Government needs to provide a more detailed analysis than the Impact Analysis published at the...
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Committee recommendation
36match
#52 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
We heard strong opposition from the higher education sector to the International Student Levy. They are concerned they may not be able to pass on the extra cost to students through higher fees and will struggle to absorb the additional financial cost given the sector’s wider financial difficulties. We were told by the Chair of the Migration Advisory...
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Committee recommendation
36match
#46 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
We understand the Government’s wish to crackdown on abuse of the student visa system. The Government has decided to pursue this objective through reforming the BCA requirements. We have heard concerns from higher education providers and stakeholders about the implementation of the tougher BCA requirements, particularly how they would be measured and publicised. We heard that the international...
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NAO recommendation
36match
Crossrail – a progress update
TfL should identify the skills and individuals it needs to retain to complete the programme, and those it thinks it will need to retain to run the Elizabeth line effectively once in service.
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Committee recommendation
32match
#48 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The Government response should also outline how its approach on BCA will help rather than harm attempts to diversify where higher education providers recruit international students from. (Recommendation, Paragraph 246)
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Committee recommendation
32match
#47 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The Government should address the concerns raised by higher education providers about how they will monitor the tougher BCA targets for institutions. It should commit to using real-time data, avoid using unreliable international ranking metrics, consider phasing in the changes, and ensuring the metrics do not treat smaller providers unfairly. (Recommendation, Paragraph 245)
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Committee recommendation
32match
#45 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
The Government should carefully monitor the impact of its graduate visa changes, and publish an independent evaluation of the changes one year after the reduction to 18 months for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students takes effect. (Recommendation, Paragraph 231) 117
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Committee recommendation
32match
#44 - 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
We heard concerns about changes to the Graduate Visa under the previous and present governments. The graduate visa was one factor in the increase in international student numbers after 2021, and the changes since 2023 have been a factor in the subsequent reduction in the number of international students in the last three years. These changes also mean...
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