The government has announced that it will pull together the skills landscape through the launch of Skills England.

As part of the government’s plans to ‘create a shared national ambition’ to boost skills, Skills England will bring central and local government together with business, training providers and unions to ensure that the skills requirements of the next ten years can be met in every region. The organisation will also offer strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system with this aligning to the government’s industrial strategy.

Leading Skills England will be Richard Pennycook CBE, as the former Co-operative Group Chief Executive and non-executive director at the Department for Education comes in as interim Chair – as confirmed by the Education Secretary.

The government sees skills as integral to economic growth, with a third of improvement in productivity coming as result of skills developments over the last 20 years. Despite this, skills shortages doubled to more than half a million between 2017 and 2022, with this now accounting for 36% of job vacancies.