神马福利影片

The Dean of WMG at the 神马福利影片, Professor Robin Clark, spoke at the launch of 鈥檚 new report on manufacturing skills this week (Wednesday 25th October). WMG supported the development of the report, including holding a roundtable with West Midlands employers; Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) providers; and regional skills experts.

Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea CBE DL, launched Policy Connect鈥檚 latest report – Upskilling Industry: Manufacturing Productivity and Growth in England, alongside Minister for Enterprise and Markets, Keving Hollinrake MP; WMG Advisory Board member, Mark Pawsey MP and the Shadow Minister for Innovation, Chi Onwurah MP.

The Manufacturing Commission鈥檚 inquiry considers the implications of recent skills system reform in England on the manufacturing sector.  It concludes that labour shortages are restricting productivity across the economy, with skills gaps in the manufacturing sector costing between 拢7.7 and 拢8.3 billion annually in lost economic output.

To address this the report recommends government make several reforms to the skills system:

路 Support for SMEs in the manufacturing sector to help upskill their workforce, including incentives to deliver T-Levels and host skills boot camps. 

路 Greater flexibility in the use of the Apprenticeship Levy funds, including ring-fencing of unused Levy funding for investment in wider upskilling. 

路 A national campaign to increase the uptake of STEM subjects by women and people of minority ethnic backgrounds. 

路 Appointment of a government manufacturing 鈥楥hampion鈥� to raise awareness of the manufacturing sector in schools and promote the role that the manufacturing sector is playing in combatting the climate crisis. 

 Inquiry Chair, Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, CBE, DL said: 鈥淎s Chair of the Manufacturing Commission and a proud supporter of British manufacturing, I am delighted to have been involved with this inquiry, which considers the impact of skills shortages across the sector. 

鈥淭hroughout the evidence sessions that have informed this work, I have been inspired by accounts from manufacturing businesses that are using all levers available to them to upskill their workforces. The recommendations that we have made seek to help businesses, education providers, and individuals best navigate the current policy landscape and deliver the skills that the manufacturing sector so vitally needs.鈥� 

Inquiry Vice-Chair, and WMG advisory Board member, Mark Pawsey MP added: 鈥淎s a member of the Business and Trade Committee and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group, I regularly hear of the skills shortages that limit productivity within the UK鈥檚 manufacturing sector. This inquiry explores how businesses can collaborate better with education providers to deliver the skills that local communities need. This is particularly important in the West Midlands, which is home to a significant part of the UK鈥檚 automotive and future battery technology capability.鈥� 

Professor Robin Clark, Dean of WMG, said: 鈥淭he proposals in the report contain lots of good ideas on how to develop a system that really works for learners and employers, and suggests practical changes that can make a real difference to our skills system.

鈥淭he report is a call to action for all of us working in skills to encourage learners, course providers and employers to get engaged in manufacturing, give SMEs strong incentives to support skills and collaborate to improve course design, provision, and approval.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got great examples of how skills can be transformative for businesses and students in manufacturing. Now we need to work together to make that the experience everyone has from our skills system.鈥�

Read the full 鈥楿pskilling Industry鈥� report here: