My Lords, I was very sorry not to be able to speak at Second Reading, but I was present for some of the debate and was struck by the contributions made by my noble friend Lord Taylor of Holbeach, on the need for localism and the example of horticulture, and the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley—who is in her place—on local skills improvement plans, which are the subject of this group. I also agree with my noble friend Lord Baker that the strength of the school system is incredibly important and that we need parity of esteem for technical and vocational education in our schools. Indeed, whenever I talk at a school, I always talk about apprenticeships.
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I refer to my entry in the register of interests. I serve in a non-executive role in various sectors, which gives me a feel for the training needs of young people and for lifelong learning. Skills and their continuous improvement are essential to successful business and, as I have been saying since I joined this House in 2013, a strong system of vocational learning and training is as important to a productive economy as university education. I have often mentioned the experience of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in this respect, so I was glad to see the references to the German one-stop shop chambers of commerce system in January’s White Paper. I have a great deal of sympathy with the thrust of the thinking of the Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, on this.
I like the way in which this Bill puts employers at the heart of the process—including big public sector employers such as hospitals, which often dominate in our towns, such as my home city of Salisbury. However, which bodies does my noble friend the Minister see the new skills improvement plans being modelled on? Is it the skills plans of the regional majors or of local enterprise partnerships, or are they modelled on something quite different? Can she share a model skills plan or two with us? As a large former employer in my time at Tesco, and as chair of various SMEs, I am keen to understand and assess how these might work in practice. The impact assessment suggests that the cost is not great—£25 million in total—especially relative to the potential benefits of a good new system. However,
I would like to understand better how things would actually work, perhaps in a meeting rather than on the Floor of the House.
I also want to know how the national bodies identifying skills gaps will link in. There are gaps in digital, for example, which is needed in nearly every sector. There are gaps in AI, engineering, climate-friendly construction and health. As we have heard, there are also gaps among chefs, in agriculture and, of course, in the critical areas of management, leadership and teamwork. I think my noble friend the Minister mentioned that the principal vehicle will be the Skills and Productivity Board. But how will that and other national bodies or manifestos—and, indeed, regional mayors—be involved? How will they influence and link to those responsible for framing and revising our local skills improvement plans?
I should add that I care a great deal about training for SMEs—whether in manufacturing, services or the creative sectors—where localism is absolutely key to the provision. I also know that productivity and growth need a revolution in skills in larger companies that may operate across the UK and outside local areas, as well as in the public sector.
These improvement plans are a new statutory requirement, and we must beware that they do not become like local plans in planning. These are expensive and complex both to create and understand. Moreover, they are out of date or non-existent in some areas. We heard today in the Built Environment Committee that this represents 30% of local plans.
I was glad to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Storey, about his experiences in Liverpool since, for a major part of my career, I worked alongside Terry Leahy, a well-known Liverpudlian. We were able to employ and train—and even teach reading and mathematical skills to—many young people who had missed out in the school system. Much of that, I have to say, was done in partnership with the trade union USDAW.
However, I do not agree with the noble Lord, Lord Storey, that there should be statutory consultees. This is because, first, someone has to be in charge, and the successful German experience suggests that this should be the employers; and, secondly, adding statutory consultation would add costs and distract local authorities, trade unions and student unions. You could give the plans to the regional mayors to do instead, as I think the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, was suggesting—but that would be a different Bill, and you would be moving away from localism. So this is all quite tricky. A statutory involvement could also bring in the lawyers if processes were not followed, as you see in the planning system. So it seems much better to keep the system simple and in the hands of employers, and to leave it to their discretion as to how stakeholders—including the trade unions, which have a very good record in promoting skills in my experience—are consulted.
For similar reasons, I would be against most of the other amendments in this group, although they are all useful as probing amendments, especially Amendment 27 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Patel.