Chancellor's Budget proposals are a 'soufflé of jargon'
5 min read
Failure to support adult reskilling and retraining means we may fall behind our international competitors as Brexit approaches, says Gordon Marsden MP.
Yesterday’s Budget saw confirmation of the leaks sprinkled across the Sunday papers where Government had publicised a package of previously announced skills initiatives, including extra funding, necessary after years of neglect and cuts in the sector.
Whilst we welcome the announced extra funding from 2018/19 to implement new technical routes from Sainsbury and the Skills Plan and to increase teaching hours for 16-19 year olds - this is very much the minimum needed to address existing shortfalls, let alone the new skills challenges of Brexit. And although the Chancellor pledged £500 million a year of additional funding for technical skills – when you look at the Treasury’s Red Book the reality is only £60 million extra funding in 2018/19. We won’t hit the £500m for at least 5 years.
The so called new T levels seem to be just a badging of the 15 technical routes that came out of that plan- just a Budget week gimmick for things that are already being ground through in the TFE Bill. And if the detail of them are rushed through on the back of Budget gimmicks, without proper consultation with the providers, colleges, employers and trade unions all needed to make them work, it could be a huge missed opportunity.
Also- and crucially - there is no matching package of support here from the Chancellor to be aimed at the adult reskilling and retraining. Simply focusing on 16-19 year olds won’t deliver what we need to stay in touch with our international competitors post Brexit let alone starting to narrow the skills gap with them.
The £40 million promised to investigate new ways of supporting lifelong learning is wholly inadequate to the sort of challenges in this area we have been outlining. It does not come near the scale of need and the sort of joined up approach across FE and HE of new structures that we were envisaging in the New Clause 15 we tabled at the Report stage of the HE Bill in the Commons.
It seems there is still no sense of the huge task ahead to reskill and retrain the adult workforce with technical skills. The emphasis is still heavily on pre 24’s and complacency about the huge amount of money and initiatives taken out of adult skills over the past six years.
Equally the confirmation of money for FE maintenance loans -which we have been pressing for confirmation of - is welcome and a new initiative. BUT figures announced for loans are not the same as money actually taken up. And as we’ve seen with advanced learning loans for fees where only half of money is actually being taken up at moment, there will need to be far more promotion and information from Government to make that happen.
And maintenance loans are not all as they seem. As part of the Government’s policy costings document, the Office for Budget Responsibility reiterated further delays until least 2018/19 for maintenance loans for both students studying for technical qualifications and those undertaking distance learning. On top of that, distance and adult learners generally will be very concerned by the OBR saying the Government intends to reduce the level of support for distance learners further. This is terrible if true, and if not the Government must clarify urgently.
The 2019 onwards progress now being indicated by Government comes after a year of sustained pressure from our front bench and sector bodies in these areas on Ministers and is a response to that focus and pressure from us. Yet with changes only beginning to come in from 2019, the multitude of problems remain in the meantime.
The Government are trying to float this so called Technical Skills revolution on an Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education still without a new full time Chief Executive only a month from its formal launch and with less than 100 staff and an initial budget less than £10 million.
The budget proposals are a soufflé of jargon designed to distract from the growing chorus from business and analysts on how thin the Government’s Industrial strategy is. That includes the damning criticism only last week from the all-party BEIS Select Committee which said there was little evidence of a strategic framework or co-ordination for future initiatives.
Whitehall seems still frozen in silos over it - and there’s no sense of the need to energise skills and training policy with properly devolved structures. In addition there are growing concerns being voiced across the sector skills areas about the need to incorporate qualifications properly in the new Sainsbury routes – and what it may mean for their take-up by would be apprentices or employers if there are not. All in all, a lot for the Government and the new IfA still to think about when it’s launched on April 1st.
Gordon Marsden is the Labour Member of Parliament for Blackpool South and the Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Skills.
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