Education Secretary pledges to tackle ‘chronic’ skills shortages

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has pledged to tackle “chronic” skills shortages and provide a range of pathways for young people.

The Government has plans to abolish the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and replace it with a new arm’s length body called Skills England.

MPs backed the proposal 317 votes to 55, majority 262, at its second reading.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott had earlier branded it a “very bad idea” and warned it will mean the Secretary of State “has carte blanche to do whatever she likes” with further education.

Ms Phillipson said the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill will pave the way for a new “system that supports everyone”.

During the second reading debate on Tuesday, MPs were told the Bill will transfer the functions of the IfATE to the Secretary of State.

Speaking in the Commons, Ms Phillipson said: “The skills gaps that we face in our country – they deny people the opportunity, the power, the freedom to choose the life that they live.

“But it’s not just today that we count the cost, it limits our power to shape the careers, the economy, and the society of tomorrow as well.”

Ms Phillipson added: “It’s time this country took skills seriously again.

“No longer an after-thought, now at the centre of change. No longer nice to have, now a driving force for opportunity. No longer neglected, now a national strength.”

Intervening, Labour MP for Chesterfield, Toby Perkins, said: “Can she just explain to the House why she’s taken the approach that she has?

“And how she believes Skills England – as a body within her department, rather than a truly independent body – will have that strength and respect in this sector that is so badly needed?”

Ms Phillipson said Skills England will act as an executive agency, adding: “The need to do it in this way is one of time and speed.”

“The need to act is urgent. We’ve got to get on with this, make sure we’re tackling the chronic skills shortages that we see right across our country,” she said.

Ms Phillipson said the Government’s plans to remove the obligation on employees to offer maths and English qualifications alongside apprenticeships would benefit all businesses.

She added “much more” support is needed for small businesses and Skills England will “drive forward” this work, while education minister Janet Daby later said the body in its current “shadow” form had engaged with more than 700 partners, as she described the Government’s ambition for a “more agile and responsive” organisation.

Intervening, Conservative former minister Sir John Hayes said “too often” the advice to young people is to pursue an academic career rather than practical learning.

He added: “That means that whilst the shortages she describes are profound, there are also many people who are graduates, in non-graduate jobs, owing a lot of money, with pretty useless degrees.”

Ms Phillipson replied: “I want to make sure that all young people have a range of pathways available to them, including fantastic technical training routes, including through apprenticeships.

“But also making sure young people with talent and ability are also able to take up a university course, if that is the right path and the right choice for them.”

Ms Trott warned the Government’s proposals to abolish the IfATE will mean Ms Phillipson “has carte blanche to do whatever she likes” with further education.

She added: “The Bill is another manifestation of a Department for Education centralisation spree because, remember as with the (Children’s Wellbeing and) Schools Bill, everything must be controlled by the Secretary of State – no innovation is allowed.”

Commons Education Committee chairwoman Helen Hayes also warned that without setting up Skills England in law, “the Secretary of State and future secretaries of state can make fundamental changes to Skills England or indeed close it down without the consent of Parliament”.

The Labour MP later added: “This calls into question the ability Skills England will have to deliver a stable, long-term underpinning of the skills system over a period of time.”

Liberal Democrat skills spokesman Ian Sollom tabled a “wrecking” amendment to the Bill, to cancel the proposed legislation, because “it fails to establish Skills England as a statutory independent body”.

Mr Perkins said the amendment – which MPs rejected 312 votes to 70, majority 242 – would mean going “right back to square one and stop reform dead in its tracks”, instead of aiding the “speedy setting up of Skills England”.

Conservative former education secretary Damian Hinds criticised the Bill and accused the Government of attempting to “set the standards” for T-level qualifications.

He said: “We wouldn’t allow it for A-levels that the Department for Education would set the standards, we would always have that independently done and verified.

“So, if we wouldn’t let it happen for A-levels, how could it be right for T-levels?”