Skills Bill: key takeaways from CBI submission

As part of our ongoing engagement on the government’s agenda for skills reform, the CBI has submitted evidence to the Public Bill Committee considering the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.

This legislation aims to boost lifelong learning, bring employers into skills planning, and ensure that technical qualifications are delivering good outcomes for people, firms, and the economy.

However, there are several areas where the Bill can be strengthened:

1 - Removing funding barriers and ramping up flexibility will boost participation in lifelong learning.
Ensuring people can train, retrain, and upskill throughout working lives is vital in a changing economy. In addition to the Lifelong Loan Entitlement, further steps are needed to ramp up flexible education and remove barriers to training.

2 - A coherent place-based and coordinated national approach are both key to delivering the skills our economy needs.
Local Skills Improvement Plans can support better collaboration between business, education providers, and local government, allowing areas to consolidate economic strengths and drive growth. Harmonising the efforts of local actors, and balancing national with regional priorities, can prevent skill gaps across the country.

3 - Reformed technical qualifications must remain in lockstep with employer demand and support more young people to progress.
An ‘employer-led’ technical offer must advance opportunities for young people to develop skills that firms highly prize. As technology transforms our economy; qualifications must remain responsive to skills demand.

Read our full submission.

Next steps

As the Bill progresses through Parliament, the CBI will continue working to ensure the needs of business, learners and the economy are met– and your business insight is key.

Speak to Aaron Revel to share your feedback on the Skills Bill, or for any other queries.