Skills provision in London needs stronger business leadership and accountability to both meet skills needs and get Londoners into jobs. A gap persists between industry and education, with many young people entering the workplace without the core competencies and skills in demand.
The Employment and Skills Commission
Our Employment and Skills Commission brings a strong business voice to the table, providing a unique perspective on the skills debate. The Commission has developed recommendations for a system where London’s employers can access the talent they need from the local workforce, in the context of skills devolution, automation and Brexit. See a visual summary of key recommendations.
We work closely with City Hall’s Skills for Londoners Board to:
- create a business led skills strategy
- open a productive dialogue between government, employers, training providers and the local workforce
- develop an effective careers strategy for London
- make the apprenticeship levy work for London
- ensure the skills system helps London business build its home-grown workforce
Read the findings from our earlier report ‘Building the workforce of the future’ with Lloyds Banking group.
Reforms to the Apprenticeships system
London First and the North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) came together to launch a major report on the future of apprenticeships. Since the launch of the Apprenticeship Levy, the system has been criticised as being too rigid and inflexible, impeding access and uptake and leading to monies remaining unspent.
To make the system more flexible and accessible, we are calling for key pragmatic changes:
- Enhance the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s (IfATE) position as an employer-driven ‘one-stop-shop’ for information and support;
- Give businesses greater flexibility in how they use funds and transfer them to other businesses;
- Ensure that effective and robust Quality Assurance processes underpin the apprenticeship system; and
- Streamline processes so that all Standards are approved within eight months and so that reviews are carried out quickly and regularly to keep Standards up-to-date.
During the pandemic, we also put forward a seven-point plan to save the apprenticeship system, elements of which were implemented at the 2020 Comprehensive Spending Review. We will continue to work in partnership with Government and businesses to make the changes needed to ensure the apprenticeship system flourishes in the future.
