The construction industry, like others, needs a skilled workforce to help it to grow and strengthen so that it is able to compete on a global scale. So how has the recession affected Leitch’s goals for skills training and what needs to be done now?
Last week’s Pre-Budget Report, delivered by Chancellor Alistair Darling, promised to better support unemployment among the young. He guaranteed that 18–24 year olds would not be without jobs, work placements or skills training for more than six months. Previously, only those under 24 years old who had been unemployed for a year qualified for the help. The need to slash the waiting time in half demonstrates the need to maintain momentum for Britain’s core skills agenda.
Three years ago Gordon Brown, then chancellor, commissioned Lord Sandy Leitch to identify how Britain could become a world leader in skills by 2020. The UK was, and is, keen to increase its skills attainment to maximise economic growth and productivity. The ambitious report, Prosperity for all in the global economy: world-class skills, commonly known as the ‘Leitch Report’, highlighted skills as the key to unlock people’s potential and outlined recommendations and policy implications required for change to succeed. Essentially, the Leitch Report became the byword for skills and training needs across government.
Three years on, our skills growth has been stunted by the downturn. Despite positive signs that the economy is beginning to turn a corner, skills policy goals now need to reflect the challenges the UK has faced – so much so that it has been necessary for a follow-up report. Beyond Leitch: skills policy for the upturn was launched at a Labour Party conference fringe meeting in September to review and devise aims that still aspire and contribute to maximising growth, under new conditions.
The construction industry has dealt with skills shortages since the recession of the early 1990s, when many employers slashed their training budgets. Between 1990 and 1993, the total number of trainees in the sector fell from around 41,500 to 29,300: a drop of almost 30%. And, while there was a gradual rise from 1994 onwards, we didn’t return to the same level until the year 2000, a decade later.
But there have been many skills and training successes since the release of the Leitch Report. Apprenticeship applications are currently at 20,776, and many people in the industry have enrolled in courses at the National Construction College, Europe’s largest construction training provider.
However, there are still areas of the industry suffering from skills gaps and many apprentices are ‘at risk’ of being laid off by their employer. It is vital to establish education and training routes, including apprenticeships, in order to reward society in the long-term with skills.
ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry, has always recognised the value in consulting employers to bring quality control to the range of qualifications and training opportunities available. This can ensure that industry skills are not wasted and that entrants are of high quality. We want to demonstrate how skills contribute to business success by including employers’ demands for clearer training structures, to deliver improved qualifications.
Looking to the long term, training cannot be sacrificed despite the downturn if we want to rebuild our economy and grow to compete on a global stage, as proposed in the Leitch Report three years ago. When budgets are tight, a careful focus on business need can even help strengthen positions for the upturn.
Mike Bialyj is the employer services director for ConstructionSkills
