King’s Speech confirms skills focus of new Labour government

Labour has confirmed plans to create a new skills body for England and reform the apprenticeship levy in the first King’s Speech of the new parliament.

There was no mention of universities or research as King Charles outlined the priority legislation for the incoming government in the House of Lords.

He did say, however, that ministers will “seek to raise educational standards and break down barriers to opportunity”.

“My government will establish Skills England which will have a new partnership with employers at its heart, and my ministers will reform the apprenticeship levy,” the monarch added in the section of the speech most relevant to higher education.

In background notes for the speech, the new remit of the body was outlined. It will bring together “businesses, providers, unions, mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) and national government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce that England needs”, the document says.

Skills England will also be responsible for identifying the training courses that will be eligible for funding under the expanded “growth and skills levy”.

Currently the money, collected from businesses with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million, is only available for use on apprenticeship opportunities including degree apprenticeships offered by universities.

Labour plan to expand the remit after more than £3.5 billion of unused levy funds were returned to the Treasury earlier this year.

Courses deemed to align with the country’s skills needs will become eligible, offering a potential new revenue opportunity for universities.

The document also confirmed plans to devolve funding for skills, stating that “MCAs and the Greater London Authority will be responsible for 62 per cent of the Adult Skills Fund budget in academic year 2024-25 and further devolution is planned”.

Reacting to the speech, Joe Marshall, chief executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business, said: “As always, the devil will lie in the detail, but the aim to have a more flexible levy than in the past is very welcome.

“The nation’s businesses are dealing with an acute and severe skills crisis. Skills gaps and vacancies have been persistently high at around 1 million, yet businesses face barriers to upskilling their staff and accessing new talent.”

Companies being able to draw on levy funds to increase the skills of the workforce had long been needed, Dr Marshall said, and he hoped that “a more flexible levy will meet business needs by expanding the variety of high-quality training available to young people and adults”.

Sir Peter Lampl, the founder of the equality charity the Sutton Trust, cautioned that the changes could reduce the number of apprenticeship opportunities available and said the reforms “must be accompanied by a plan to significantly increase apprenticeships targeted at young people from less well-off backgrounds”.

Jo Grady, the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), welcomed commitments in the speech to phase out zero-hours contracts, adding that “the thousands of staff members working in post-16 education on precarious contracts will want to see this enacted as quickly as possible”.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com