All councils should be empowered to coordinate adult education and skills in their areas
Improving adult skills is vital to individuals looking to make progress at work and to the productive growth of the economy.
To evidence this need and the contribution of local government to delivering inclusive, economically relevant and place-based training, the LGA commissioned a study by the Heseltine Institute at the University of Liverpool.
It found that, despite progressive improvement in qualification levels over the past two decades, the UK still has a major challenge of low skills, which constrains the productivity of the national economy and is a barrier to individual earnings and progression in work.
Some 6.7 million working-age adults in the UK have no, or low (level 1) qualifications – equivalent to grades 3, 2, 1 or D, E, F, G at GCSE.
This represents 16.2 per cent of adults aged 16 to 64, rising to 21.9 per cent of those aged 50 to 64.
Additionally, the UK has a digital skills deficit, with an estimated 10 million adults lacking essential computer skills. Yet some 82 per cent of all job openings advertised online require competence in basic computer software skills, such as Microsoft Office, while roles in digital technology are growing at three times the rate of all jobs in the wider economy.
Improvement in adult skill levels has been hampered by a sustained decline in funding and participation in adult learning over the past decade.
Despite additional investment in apprenticeship programmes, the net effect is a fall in adult funding of 35 per cent, or £1.9 billion in real terms, between 2009/10 and 2019/20.
In particular, the adult education budget, which funds basic skills and community level engagement in learning, declined by 52 per cent between 2011/12 and 2019/20.
Transformation of the skills system is vital to realising the Government’s ambitions for a high-skill, high-wage internationalised economy.
The Heseltine Institute report calls for actions across three themes: re-engineering the skills system; mobilising adult skills; and transforming in-work learning.
Like councils, it wants to see the devolution of funding, delivery and control of adult learning across England.
Combined authorities already have significant powers in this area that are helping them join up and target provision at the skills needed locally and at the local people vulnerable to being left behind by changing labour markets and automation.
The report and the LGA’s Work Local programme propose that non-devolved councils in England should be given a new ‘community skills’ function to plan, commission and have oversight of all adult skills provision up to level 2 for their area, including Multiply, the Government’s adult numeracy programme, and the adult education budget.
Other proposals include using local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) to bring employers’ intelligence and advice into existing skills planning partnerships, more effective alignment of training and support for small and medium-sized businesses to drive the productive use of skills, and, of course, more funding.
Across the three themes of this study, building stronger partnerships is the basis for accelerating improvements in adult skills levels.
Local and national government need to collaborate at political and official level to hardwire ‘place’ and local democratic accountability into the design, commissioning, funding and delivery of skills and employment interventions, as advocated in the LGA’s report, ‘Work Local: unlocking talent to level up’.
Councils and devolved authorities are already working hard on this agenda (see case studies below). Empowering local government to do more would allow Whitehall to re-focus its resources where it can be most effective and reduce the need for a large national level bureaucracy.
Liverpool City Region: test and learn
Using devolved adult education budget flexibilities, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) has supported a programme of ‘test and learn’ pilots to drive innovation in the delivery of adult skills.
For example, through the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), ‘test and learn’ has been used to fund introductory courses for people interested in careers as maternity support workers.
Building on materials developed by the WEA with Liverpool Women’s Hospital that create progression pathways for maternity support workers towards level 3 qualifications, the pilot has funded level 1 and level 2 courses for local residents.
A small group of eight learners – all unemployed women – were involved in the pilot that was delivered over 25 hours, with the primary aim to increase the number of black, Asian and ethnic minority entrants into maternity support roles.
The project has demonstrated the effectiveness of providing short courses within a progression pathway to help individuals gain confidence and the foundations needed to develop in-work skills.
Essex County Council: electric vehicle training
Responding to employer demand for up-to-date training in electric vehicle maintenance, Essex County Council secured £100,000 from the first round of the UK Community Renewal Fund to establish a new electric vehicle centre at Harlow College.
The funding will allow the college to offer free training to 50 locally employed mechanics over the next two years, expand the curriculum to offer Institute of the Motor Industry training at level 2 and 3, update the knowledge of college tutors and engage with local employers.
The pilot was developed in the context of Harlow needing up to 14,000 battery electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030.
It is intended to encourage greater employer investment in green skills and provide evidence of the importance of training for business performance.
The investment contributes to the council’s climate change goals, getting ahead of the anticipated high demand in maintenance skills that will emerge with increased ownership of electric vehicles.
Kirklees Council: adult and community learning
Kirklees Council has re-organised its adult and community learning services to provide a clearer focus on adult skills and local growth, and to deliver what residents actually need to access and progress in employment.
Working with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the changes have created space to focus on strategic aspects of skills delivery, in anticipation of continuing devolution of powers and resources from central government.
While there is a strong higher and further education offer in Kirklees, there is also a significant skills gap, with 13 per cent of residents having no qualifications.
The council’s adult and community learning offer is diversifying access points into learning, blending on-line and in-person training to provide a strong foundation for progression, with short ‘first steps’ provision deployed experimentally to assess new forms of delivery to meet the needs of learner groups.
A key value for Kirklees is to move away from outputs focused on ‘any job’, to support residents to achieve quality outcomes in their working lives, to improve earnings and make the most of employment opportunities locally and in the region.
By integrating the employment and skills programming, and having a focus on employer demand in key sectors, Kirklees is working to increase social mobility and unlock the ambitions of residents.