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Posted on:
21st January, 2021

LEP Network Chair welcomes Skills for Jobs White Paper

The government today (21 January) published the Skills for Jobs White Paper that aims to "revolutionise" post-16 education, and reshape the training landscape.

LEP Network Chair welcomes Skills for Jobs White Paper

Today's white paper sets out reforms to post-16 technical education and training to support people to develop the skills needed to get good jobs and improve national productivity.

Key measures include:

  • Business groups, including Chambers of Commerce, working alongside colleges to develop tailored skills plans to meet local training needs; supported by a £65 million Strategic Development Fund to put the plans into action and establish new College Business Centres to drive innovation and enhanced collaboration with employers.
  • Giving employers a central role in designing almost all technical courses by 2030, to ensure that the education and training people receive is directly linked to the skills needed for real jobs.
  • Boosting the quality and uptake of Higher Technical Qualifications - that provide the skills that many employers say they need and that can lead to higher wages – by introducing newly approved qualifications from September 2022 supported by a government-backed brand and quality mark.
  • Changing the law so that from 2025 people can access flexible student finance so they can train and retrain throughout their lives, supported by funding in 21/22 to test ways to boost access to more modular and flexible learning.
  • Launching a nationwide recruitment campaign to get more talented individuals to teach in further education and investing in high quality professional development including a new Workforce Industry Exchange Programme.

Welcoming the Skills for Jobs White Paper, LEP Network Chair, Mark Bretton, said:

“Strengthening the bond between businesses and colleges with the Skills for Jobs White Paper not only improves people’s lifechances with the right skills the country needs, but will help accelerate our much needed economic recovery.  

“Putting business at the heart of the skills drive is a real boost to enabling the country to get back on track.  As business led partnerships, LEPs put skills at the heart of every local recovery plan and our Skills Advisory Panels and Local Digital Skills Partnerships clearly reflect the initiatives in today’s White Paper, joining businesses and skills providers at local level to ensure business and industry get the skills they need and people get the jobs they want.

“LEPs will play an active role in every local area to help deliver ‘Skills for Jobs’ and we look forward to working closely with government to achieve that”.

In addition to the white paper today, the government:

A copy of the Skills for Jobs White Paper is available here 

Further details of today's announcement are available here