Writing for CityMetric, senior policy researcher Alastair Reed argues that England’s incoming metro mayors could tilt local training systems towards the skills most in demand.
The nine new metro mayors will get their local share of the £1.5bn adult education budget. “At present, the adult education budget is mainly spent funding basic education at GCSE-level for those let down by the school system. It would be wrong for that to change anytime soon – but nonetheless, it’s still a big funding lever which will give metro mayors greater influence over the skills providers on their patch.”
He warns though that: “Some parts of the country are better prepared than others”. And he cites “a recent government review looking across the country found that ‘a lack of detail on demand and supply’ for skills was a major issue thwarting infrastructure projects.” Mayors will not be able to do much with the new budgets “unless they have a firm grasp on what training is currently on offer and what employers want”.
The image is ‘Birmingham Council House night’ by Tony Hisgett, published under CC BY 2.0